C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Heinrich von Morungen (d. 1222)

Translation of Edward Tompkins McLaughlin

THERE we children used to play,

Through the meadows and away,

Looking ’mid the grassy maze

For the violets; those days

Long ago

Saw them grow:

Now one sees the cattle graze.

I remember as we fared

Through the blossoms, we compared

Which the prettiest might be:

We were little things, you see.

On the ground

Wreaths we bound;—

So it goes, our youth and we.

Over stick and stone we went

Till the sunny day was spent;

Hunting strawberries, each skirrs

From the beeches to the firs,

Till—Hello,

Children! Go

Home, they cry—the foresters.