Note 138 — Chapter IV · THE SONG OF THE MOTH
Beatrice M. Hinkle translation
I emphasize this passage because its idea contains the psychological root of the “Wandering of the soul in Heaven,” the conception of which is very ancient. It is a conception of the wandering sun which from its rising to its setting wanders over the world. The wandering gods are representations of the sun, that is, symbols of the libido. This comparison is indelibly impressed in the human phantasy as is shown by the poem of Wesendonck:
Grief.
The sun, every evening weeping,
Reddens its beautiful eyes for you;
When early death seizes you,
Bathing in the mirror of the sea.
Still in its old splendor
The glory rises from the dark world;
You awaken anew in the morning
Like a proud conqueror.
Ah, why then should I lament,
When my heart, so heavy, sees you?
Must the sun itself despair?
Must the sun set?
And does death alone bear life?
Do griefs alone give joys?
O, how grateful I am that
Such pains have given me nature!
Another parallel is in the poem of Ricarda Huch:
As the earth, separating from the sun,
Withdraws in quick flight into the stormy night,
Starring the naked body with cold snow,
Deafened, it takes away the summer joy.
And sinking deeper in the shadows of winter,
Suddenly draws close to that which it flees,
Sees itself warmly embraced with rosy light
Leaning against the lost consort.
Thus I went, suffering the punishment of exile,
Away from your countenance, into the ancient place.
Unprotected, turning to the desolate north,
Always retreating deeper into the sleep of death;
And then would I awake on your heart,
Blinded by the splendor of the dawn.