The whole day, the whole night –nothing but the thought of her. - E. T. A. Hoffmann

Was she then to be lost to me? Nay, for as she left this vale of sorrows, she had kindled the eternal love that now glowed within me. I now know that her death was the consummation of that love which, as she had told me, rules above the stars and has nothing in common with the things of earth. Such thoughts as these lifted me above my earthly self, and these days in the convent were truly the most blissful of my whole life.

In such a dreamy mood one may find one may well wound one's feet against sharp stones, forget to doff one's hat to distinguished persons, bid one's friends good morning in the middle of the night, and dash one's head against the first front door one comes to, because one had forgot to open it; in short, the spirit wears one's body like an ill-fitting garment that is everywhere too wide, too long, too uncomfortable.

Aus dem tiefsten Schatten des dunklen Gebüsches, das den Kindern gegenüberlag, blickte ein wundersamer Schein, der wie sanfter Mondesstrahl über die vor Wonne zitternden Blätter gaukelte und durch das Säuseln des Waldes ging ein süßes Getön, wie wenn der Wind über Harfen hinstreift und im Liebkosen die schlummernden Akkorde weckt. Den Kindern wurde ganz seltsam zumute, aller Gram war von ihnen gewichen, aber die Tränen standen ihnen in den Augen vor süßem nie gekanntem Weh.