The speaker makes a quiet vow to revisit someone after time has done its healing work. He imagines coming back on some far-off day when autumn leaves have covered his sorrow, when the painful present has decayed into a forgotten yesterday, and before the last light of memory or life goes out. The promise is not just to return, but to comfort the person left behind — to dry what he calls the tear of penance from their eyes, suggesting they may later regret how things ended.
The German title, “Auf Wiedersehen,” means “until we see again,” and that idea colors the whole piece. The mood is tender and elegiac, suspended between sadness and hope. There is no anger, only a patient, almost ghostly devotion. The speaker accepts the parting but refuses to let it be final, offering reunion on the other side of grief and guilt.