A thousand fervent heartfelt greetings for the birthday!
I can offer you no gifts but of the heart now; my fancy still refuses me its old-accustomed services; 'tis musing on repose and paths that lead thereto. In spirit I shall be among you, tho', and taste full lovely visions of the family-feast!
A thousand good wishes with the greetings!
R. W.
Source: Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, trans. William Ashton Ellis (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), No. 150