| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Translations | From the German.
The Statue over the Cathedral Door |
| | | | (Das Steinbild am Dome)
By Julius Mosen |
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FORMS of saints and kings are standing | |
| The cathedral door above; | |
| Yet I saw but one among them | |
| Who hath soothed my soul with love. | |
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| In his mantle,—wound about him, | 5 |
| As their robes the sowers wind,— | |
| Bore he swallows and their fledglings, | |
| Flowers and weeds of every kind. | |
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| And so stands he calm and childlike, | |
| High in wind and tempest wild; | 10 |
| Oh, were I like him exalted, | |
| I would be like him a child! | |
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| And my songs,—green leaves and blossoms,— | |
| To the doors of heaven would bear, | |
| Calling even in storm and tempest, | 15 |
| Round me still these birds of air. | | | |
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