| |
| WHERE the Rhine pursues its track | |
| By the walls of Bacharach, | |
| There a bright-eyed sorceress dwells, | |
| Hearts bewitching with her spells. | |
| |
| By her magic charms perplext, | 5 |
| Bravest men are sorely vext, | |
| Knight nor peasant rescue find | |
| Whom her love-enchantments bind. | |
| |
| Her the bishop bade appear, | |
| Judgment from the church to hear; | 10 |
| But could not her doom decree, | |
| Of so fair a form was she! | |
| |
| Movingly to her he said, | |
| “Lorelei, misguided maid! | |
| What hath tempted thee to ply | 15 |
| Damnéd craft of sorcery?” | |
| |
| “Holy Bishop! let me die, | |
| Weary of my life am I; | |
| In my glance there lurketh death, | |
| Whom I look on perisheth! | 20 |
| |
| “Stars of flaming light these eyne! | |
| Magic wand this arm of mine! | |
| Bind me to the burning stake, | |
| This my wand of magic break.” | |
| |
| “Thy sad sentence must be stayed | 25 |
| Till thou hast confession made; | |
| Why, e’en now those flaming eyne | |
| Burn into this heart of mine. | |
| |
| “Lorelei! this powerless hand | |
| Dare not break thy magic wand, | 30 |
| Or, with pity for thy sake, | |
| Truly my own heart would break.” | |
| |
| “Why those bitter words to me, | |
| Sporting with my misery? | |
| Bishop! more I need thy prayer | 35 |
| That God’s mercy I may share; | |
| |
| “Let me die, since naught can move | |
| My sad heart again to love; | |
| Let thy lips my doom decree: | |
| Death no terror has for me! | 40 |
| |
| “Me my lover has betrayed, | |
| Left me a forsaken maid, | |
| Wandering on some foreign shore, | |
| To return again no more. | |
| |
| “Eyes by nature soft and bright, | 45 |
| Cheeks where blended hues unite, | |
| Voice of sweet and sorrowing tone, | |
| My enchantments,—these alone! | |
| |
| “Nor can I their influence fly. | |
| Anguish-stricken, I must die; | 50 |
| When my features I survey, | |
| Sorrow wastes my heart away. | |
| |
| “Ere I die thy blessing give, | |
| That with Jesu I may live; | |
| Why must I on earth abide, | 55 |
| Severed from my lover’s side?” | |
| |
| Three knights at his bidding wait: | |
| “Bear her to the cloister straight.” | |
| “Lorelei! God’s mercy still | |
| Guard thy brain from further ill! | 60 |
| |
| “Thou, in garb of nun bedight, | |
| Robe of black, and veil of white, | |
| There to prayer and penance given, | |
| Win thy way from earth to heaven!” | |
| |
| Now the mounted knights, all three, | 65 |
| Ride forth to the nunnery; | |
| Sadly on, with tearful eye, | |
| In the midst rode Lorelei. | |
| |
| “Let me now, I pray thee, knight, | |
| Stand upon yon rocky height, | 70 |
| Once again my sight would fall | |
| On my lover’s castle wall; | |
| |
| “Once again my longing eyne | |
| Look into the depth of Rhine: | |
| Then, within the cloister gate, | 75 |
| I on God will ever wait.” | |
| |
| Where that rock from out the deep | |
| Like a wall rose straight and steep, | |
| Climbing up from stone to stone, | |
| On the top she stood alone. | 80 |
| |
| Said the maid, “A bark I spy, | |
| On the Rhine-stream floating by; | |
| He whom I, returning, see | |
| Must, I trow, my lover be! | |
| |
| “Now, my heart is light and free, | 85 |
| My lost lover, it is he!” | |
| From the mountain’s rocky bank | |
| Plunging, in the Rhine she sank! | |
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