The Right Word. Adelheid von Stolterfoth (1800-1875). Rhine, the River. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Germany: Vols. XVII-XVIII

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Rhine, the River

The Right Word

Adelheid von Stolterfoth (1800–1875)


Translated by A. Baskerville DEEP ’neath the Rhine’s green billow
A golden treasure lies,
Knew’st thou the spell of magic
’T would at thy voice arise;
That magic word which holdeth,	5
With but a single sound,
The mighty torrent’s surges,
As if in fetters bound.

Deep in the valley buried
A sword all-conquering lies,	10
And he who can possess it
Against the world may rise.
One word must first be spoken,
The earth then opes, and lo!
From out her rocky chambers	15
The steel will brightly glow.

And there on yonder mountains,
Deep in the shaft profound,
By dwarfs and gnomes well guarded,
There may a key be found;	20
It opens every portal,
Forever ’t is thy own,
Know’st thou ’mong words unnumbered
That one right word alone.

How have I mused already	25
In vain so long, so long,
Till, word by word commencing,
It ended in a song!
But still as yet lie hidden
That treasure, key, and sword,	30
And what I sang so often
Was never the right word.