Solitude

Solitude is like a rain
    That from the sea at dusk begins to rise;
    It floats remote across the far-off plain
    Upward into its dwelling-place, the skies,
    Then o'er the town it slowly sinks again.
    Like rain it softly falls at that dim hour
    When ghostly lanes turn toward the shadowy morn;
    When bodies weighed with satiate passion's power
    Sad, disappointed from each other turn;
    When men with quiet hatred burning deep
    Together in a common bed must sleep--
    Through the gray, phantom shadows of the dawn
    Lo! Solitude floats down the river wan ...

        Rainer Maria Rilke
        (tr. Jessie Lamont)