…Now once upon enchanted time,
As time has never been,
There lived a princess most divine
Of royal blood and kin.

The solemn columns guide her gait
Through vaulted chambers, far
Where at the window will await
The lonely Evening Star....

She watched him rise to his fixed mark
And beams of light set free
To lead the ever-erring bark
Upon dark, moving seas.

Each night she watched, with growing love
That kindled sweet desire;
He, long-adoring from above,
Glowed with a hidden fire...

Her daydreams now all to him dart,
Head in her hands she rests
As yearning fills her soul and heart
And pains her maiden breast.

And he, oh, how he waits, aglow,
When dusk long shadows casts,
Above the castle where, below,
She will appear, at last.

And step by step, along the trail,
He follows to her room,
Weaving a scintillating veil
With his cold sparks bestrewn.

And from the mirror, bright embrace
Like snow falls to her feet,
On her closed eyes, in tilted face,
That pulse with secret beat.

She looked at him and smiled, asleep;
He quivered in the glass,
For in her dream he followed deep
To reach her soul, alas!

And in her sleep, sweet pain she sighs
Wishing upon the star:
“Climb down to me from lonely skies
My night prince from afar!

On, gentle star, glide on a beam
To be with me tonight—
Come to my room, make true my dream,
My life fill with your light!”

And where he falls the waters flow
In circles large and free,
And a proud youth begins to grow
From unknown depth of sea.

“I leave my high sphere not with ease
To listen to your plea—
The sky above my father is,
My mother is the sea.

Oh, come along my priceless gem,
And leave your world with me—
The Evening Star above I am
And you my bride shall be.“

For you speak words of lifeless breeze
And you are strangely clad;
Under your gaze my eyes would freeze,
For I’m alive, you’re dead.”

For in her dream he still abides
To fill her mind again;
And yearning for the lord of tides
Her bosom grips with pain:

“Oh, gentle star, glide on a beam
To be with me tonight;
Come to my room, make true my dream,
My life fill with your light!”

The air’s alight with crimson gold
That sets the world ablaze,
And a proud youth begins to mould
From chaos of deep haze.

“I come from high sphere not with ease
With faith anew to plight—
The sun above my father is,
My mother is the night;

Oh, come along, my priceless gem,
And leave your world with me—
The Evening Star above I am
And you my bride shall be!

“So handsome daemon, as you are
Only in dreams I know,
But to the world that lies afar
I cannot ever go!

For with your cruel love you make
Strings in my bosom hurt…
My eyes are heavy and they ache,
Under your gaze are burnt.”

“But how else to appear at all?
Can you not comprehend,
You are a dying living soul
While I live with no end?”

"But if you want me to be yours
And for your love to die,
Come, follow me and live on earth,
And dying be as I.”

“You want the short day of a kiss
For my eternity—
And, yet, your love I would not miss,
So true it is to me.

Yes, out of sin I will be born
To follow other creed;
If to eternity I’m sworn,
Let from my oath be freed!”

And he was gone…His sphere he left
In love with a mere child;
For days, the sky of light bereft,
His call to follow, wild.

And all this while, young Catalin,
A cunning palace page
Who into goblets wine pours in
At dinner for his wage,

With youthful cheeks like peonies
And ruddy as ripe fruit,
Steals close where Catalina is
And lingers in pursuit...

Oh, look how beautiful she’s grown,
Good Lord, so proud and fair;
Well, Catalin, now hold your own
And your good fortune dare.

And casual, in corner lone,
He takes her by the waist.
“What’s it you want? Leave me alone,
Go ’way, your time you waste.”

“What’s it I want? That you won’t live
With thoughts that laughter shun,
And that you smile—or better, give
A tender kiss, just one.””

“I know not what your mean! For love,
Go ’way and stay apart—
Oh, with the Evening Star above
Again I’m sick at heart.”

“If you know not, I’ll gladly teach
The lovers’ secret kiss…
But hold your ire, I beseech,
And listen kind to this:

Gently, as hunters lay their springe
To keep a bird in hold,
Your arms let on my shoulders hinge,
My hands your waist enfold;

And so that you know love complete
And nothing be amiss,
When I reach for your lips to meet
My lips seal with a kiss.”

She lists in wonder to the boy,
All rapt in tender thought;
And shy and blushing, lovely, coy,
She’d run…yet she would not.

So left the Evening Star. His wings
Grew large across the sky
As thousand years of reach would spring
And at a wink go by;

A canopy of stars, below;
Above, a starry dome:
An endless lightning seemed to flow
And through the heavens roam;

And in the dark that flowed around,
As on the first day’s morn,
He glimpsed the chaos veils unbound
From where the light is born.

He flies aswim through seas of light
With love on wings of thought…
Until all perishes from sight,
Until all turns to naught;

He goes where there’s no bound or bourn,
Nor is there eye to know,
And time itself from voids uptorn
Struggles in vain to grow;

For there is naught, yet it is there,
A thirst that draws him on,
A depth that lingers, like the snare
Of blind oblivion…

“Father, from dark eternity
My burden now reverse—
And your name ever hallowed be
In all the universe!;

Immortal nimbus overturn,
From eyes remove the fire;
And, for all, give me in return
One hour of desire…

To be a human is your call?
A man, is that your mind?
Oh, let the humans perish all,
Others would breed in kind.

Men merely live by stars of luck
And star-crossed fatefulness;
We have no death to prove our pluck,
Nor place or time possess.

I’ll give you armies march their stride
To steal the world its breath;
Long ships upon seas far and wide—
But I won’t give you death!

So to his place of yesteryear
Hyperion arose,
And, as before, from destined sphere
His beam now overflows;

For it is dusk, the evening light
Has come the day to slake;
The moon appears in gentle white
And quivers in the lake...

And sparkles fall, a shimmer bright
On groves of wood unknown;
Under the linden trees at night,
Two young ones sit alone:

“Dear love, oh, let me gently lean
My brow upon your breast,
Under your rays of eyes serene
All my deep yearning rest;

Bring to my thoughts the cold surcease
And charm of starlight dust,
And softly pour eternal peace
Into my night of lust.

Forever stay close and above,
My heart from pain redeem—
For you’re my first and only love,
My last and only dream!”

She, rapt in tender dreams of love…
Her eyes lift to the sky;
She sees the Evening Star above
And with new yearning sighs:

“Oh, gentle star, glide on a beam
To be with me tonight;
Come to my room, make true my dream,
My luck lead with your light!””

As time before, on dales and woods,
He quivers ’mong the trees,
His light still guiding solitudes
Of ever-moving seas;

But would not fall again from sky
To sea, as yester day:

“What do you care whether ’tis I
Or other, face of clay?

In human sphere of narrow lore
May that your luck will hold,
As I remain for ever more
In my eternal cold.”

The portions of 'The Legend of the Evening Star' exerpted above are meant as illustrations of the theatrical experience. The entire text of the poem can be found in the volume of Eminescu translations "Eternal Longing, Impossible Love," and the accompanying CD featured on this site