| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Two Maidens | | By Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862) |
| | Translated by Alexander Platt
I SAW two maidens on the mountain height, | |
| Their faces lovely as their forms were fair; | |
| They seemed to scan the western fields of air, | |
| And sat in fond and sisterly delight. | |
| I saw the lovely right arm raised by one | 5 |
| While pointing over mount, and stream, and lea; | |
| The other held, that she might better see, | |
| Her left arm interposed before the sun. | |
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| No wonder then that hope put forth its snare, | |
| And that the sweet wish ventured to intrude— | 10 |
| O would that either place ’twere mine to win! | |
| Yet when I view’d again that tender pair, | |
| I fain confessed, with feelings more subdued, | |
| Ah, surely no,—to part them were a sin. | | | | |
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