The Mountain Boy. Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862). Switzerland: Alps, The. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.

Switzerland: Alps, The

The Mountain Boy

Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862)


Anonymous translation THE SHEPHERD of the Alps am I,
The castles far beneath me lie;
Here first the ruddy sunlight gleams,
Here linger last the parting beams.
The mountain boy am I!	5

Here is the river’s fountain-head,
I drink it from its stony bed;
As forth it leaps with joyous shout,
I seize it ere it gushes out.
The mountain boy am I!	10

The mountain is my own domain:
It calls its storms from sea and plain;
From north to south they howl afar;
My voice is heard amid their war.
The mountain boy am I!	15

And when the tocsin sounds alarms,
And mountain bale-fires call to arms,
Then I descend, I join my king,
My sword I wave, my lay I sing.
The mountain boy am I!	20

The lightnings far beneath me lie;
High stand I here in clear blue sky;
I know them, and to them I call;
In quiet leave my father’s hall.
The mountain boy am I!	25