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Translated by K. F. Kroeker ROMANCE! I greet thee! Lo, thy eyry bold! | |
Its slender turrets in the air uptowering, | |
Its crumbling porches, mossy ruins old, | |
Its castle, firm and rugged to behold, | |
How doth it wrap my soul with sway oerpowering! | 5 |
Hail once again! I tread in pensive dream | |
Thy fairest refuge on the Rhines fair stream. | |
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Thou still art here! In weeds of cloister plain, | |
Through colored panes thou gazest on me sadly, | |
Outlawed thou art by Reason and her train, | 10 |
Alas! the wisdom of this age were fain | |
To banish thee forevermore most gladly! | |
In river strongholds, tottering and decayed, | |
Thou hidest tremblingly, O wondrous maid! | |
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In churches, ah! so desolate and bare, | 15 |
Yon is the place where loud thy soul is wailing! | |
In empty churches, thou, with streaming hair, | |
Dost weeping kneel with many a broken prayer, | |
And fervent clinging to the altars railing, | |
Within whose shadows ever sacred calm | 20 |
Dost seek devout a sanctuarys balm! | |
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Yet thou art she, whom oft in days of yore | |
A nations best with rapt delight praised loudly, | |
Whom Ludwig Tiecks white palfrey ofttimes bore, | |
Who, through the wood of poesy, before | 25 |
Didst dash,Brentano, Arnim following proudly; | |
Glows bright the forest, silver-springs around, | |
And like a dream the Fairy Horn doth sound. | |
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Days long since past! Adown the shore strode I, | |
Not Volker saw the Rhine more limpid racing, | 30 |
A steamboat on its way went rushing by, | |
The wheel ploughed deep, and threw the foam on high, | |
Upon the deck one of thy priests was pacing; | |
The youngest sure,and yet already now | |
Gray are the locks that float round Uhlands brow! | 35 |
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We recognition waved; my lonely town | |
He soon passed by, oerlooking the swift river; | |
Upon us twain the Lorelei gazed down, | |
Upon my lips a cry of joy I drown, | |
But in my eyes hot tears all trembling quiver; | 40 |
A mournful song into my memory came, | |
Three Students crossed the Rhine,this was its name! | |
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Yes, this the Rhine, whose wave doth hide the gold | |
Whereon old Uhlands eyes with pleasure glistened | |
And yon himself!Romance, ah! there behold | 45 |
The inspired lip that truly could unfold, | |
With magic word, thy glamour as he listened; | |
Yon is the eye that in the enchanted ring, | |
Beside the Witch-Elm, bathed in thy clear spring! | |
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That he was passingah! how well yon knew! | 50 |
From crag and chink, forth through the dewy morning | |
You gazed on him;a sunny smile there flew, | |
Just as the vessel rounded into view, | |
Oer thy wan features sad, resignéd mourning! | |
With mournful pleasure thou on bended knee | 55 |
Upon thy river thine own bard didst see! | |
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Yonder he fled, thy youngest, truest knight! | |
The last smoke fades in air, the ship retreating; | |
Gone too thy smile; the hills no more stand bright; | |
Thy last brave champion, who for thee doth fight, | 60 |
And on a steamer!strange my heart is beating! | |
Mediæval inspiration borne away | |
By a new ages all-resistless sway! | |
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A simile! It entered full my soul, | |
And would not thence again, my will defying! | 65 |
The melancholy hence that oer me stole! | |
Thou pale one, hushed and silent be thy dole! | |
An iron age! t is for thee, harsh and trying. | |
Heedless it undermines thy tottering throne, | |
Alas! not with its steamers keel alone! | 70 |
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Thy empire, lady, has departed long; | |
The world has changed; where, now, are thy dominions? | |
Another spirit than thine rules firm and strong; | |
It throbs in life, and flames out into song, | |
None eer before it fluttered thus its pinions! | 75 |
I also serve and wish it victory glad, | |
But why wage war with thee, thou exile sad? | |
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Thou, whose proud banner but from mouldering wall | |
Doth lonely float, through the dull air slow-sailing, | |
Thou the dethroned!with agitated soul | 80 |
Down at thy feet, I humbly, sadly fall, | |
A solemn witness of thy widows wailing! | |
A child, all feverish, of this era new, | |
Yet for the past piously mourning too! | |
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Not as a boy!Only one hour, and lo! | 85 |
Stretched at thy feet, I ll join thee in thy sorrow! | |
The spirit fresh that through these times doth blow, | |
I ve promised it; it has my word and vow, | |
My blade must flash yet in the fight to-morrow! | |
Only one hour!But that devoted quite | 90 |
To thee alone, and to thy glory bright. | |
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There, take me to thee! Take me in thy hold! | |
Hail, battlements, high in the air up-towering! | |
Hail, crumbling porches, mossy ruins old! | |
Hail, castle stern! Thou falcons eyry bold! | 95 |
How do ye wrap my soul with sway oerpowering! | |
Yon doth the Pfalz in fiery sunset shine, | |
The clouds seem castles,yes! this land is thine! | |
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A church!I enter it as in a dream; | |
The windows, richly stained, are deeply glowing; | 100 |
The foliaged pillars throw a haughty gleam, | |
And through the gloomy cloisters arches dim, | |
Careless and wild, a garden small is showing; | |
Blending its azure and its verdure gay | |
With the cathedrals ever sombre gray. | 105 |
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And, softly trembling, nods the shadow light | |
Of waving boughs, upon the church-wall playing; | |
Yon is the tomb of lady and of knight, | |
Their figures, carved in marble, stand upright, | |
Their hands are raised aloft, as if for praying; | 110 |
Gently resigned their pallid faces beam, | |
The peace of death oer both doth brightly stream. | |
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A sacred lull!Bustle and trade far gone! | |
Romance! behold, my mourning fast is fleeting! | |
That joy and peace divine, which is not known | 115 |
To this new age, alas!to thee alone! | |
Here I can feel it in my bosom beating; | |
Earth fades away, and heaven in blissful arms | |
Doth fold me close,hushed are all worlds alarms! | |
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Enough! enough! such haven not for aye! | 120 |
Back to the present! Great is lifes attraction! | |
But what this spot into my heart doth lay | |
May t flame forever! In my pulses may | |
It throb unceasing, hallowing every action! | |
May t give me gladness, strength, and courage free, | 125 |
When the loud day shall hoarsely summon me! | |
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Thus will my service of the time be pure! | |
O exiled maid! with thee I would be grieving; | |
I came thy shrine to wet with teardrops, sure, | |
And lo! thou gavst me power to endure; | 130 |
Thy peace doth fill me; calmed, behold me leaving! | |
Thou sheddst thy light around me, I depart! | |
An exile,but een now a queen thou art! | |
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Farewell to-day! The sunsets molten gold | |
Doth flood the aisle; deep-toned the bells are ringing! | 135 |
Church-banners flutter oer me half unrolled, | |
Ye ever wise, whom all things must be told, | |
Who therefore ask, what now I have been singing! | |
Doth glow the eternal lamp, and incense roll | |
Call it a requiem for Brentanos soul! | 140 |
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