The Course Of Life by Friedrich Holderlin

  You too wanted better things, but love          forces all of us down.  Sorrow bends us more          forcefully, but the arc doesn't return to its          point of origin without a reason.           Upwards or downwards!  In holy Night,          where mute Nature plans the coming days,          doesn't there reign in the most twisted Orcus          something straight and direct?           This I have learned.  Never to my knowledge          did you, all-preserving gods, like mortal          masters, lead me providentially          along a straight path.           The gods say that man should test          everything, and that strongly nourished          he be thankful for everything, and understand          the freedom to set forth wherever he will.