You, the girls I saw beside the train,
at the moment when the journey had begun,
you, the ladies with triumph in your eyes,
the joyful smile, the spark of the fleeting sun.
Girls, leaning from balconies as you gazed
into the vastness with a fading view,
or on a ship that just set out to sea,
waving handkerchiefs goodbye as you withdrew:
If only you knew, dear ladies, with what ache,
on cold evenings wrapped in mist and rain,
I recall you with longing, with silent pain.
You, the ladies who passed for less than an hour
through my small life — yet you hold the power
to carry my soul, oh God, to lands far away!
