THE HEMLOCK TREE. FROM THE GERMAN. () HEMLOCK tree! O hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches! Green not alone in summer time, But in the winter's frost and rime! O hemlock tree! O hemlock tree! how faithful are thy branches! O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom ! To love me in prosperity, And leave me in adversity! O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom ! The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example! So long as summer laughs she sings, The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example! The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood! It flows so long as falls the rain, In drought its springs soon dry again. The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood! ANNIE OF THARAW. FROM THE LOW GERMAN OF SIMON DACH. ANNIE of Tharaw, my true love of old, Annie of Tharaw, her heart once again Annie of Tharaw, my riches, my good, Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, We will stand by each other, however it blow. Oppression, and sickness, and sorrow, and pain, As the palm-tree standeth so straight and so tall, The more the hail beats, and the more the rains fall, So love in our hearts shall grow mighty and strong, Through crosses, through sorrows, through manifold wrong. Shouldst thou be torn from me to wander alone In a desolate land where the sun is scarce known, Through forests I'll follow, and where the sea flows, Through ice, and through iron, through armies of foes. STATUE OVER CATHEDRAL DOOR. Annie of Tharaw, my light and my sun, Whate'er I have bidden thee thou hast obeyed, 287 How in the turmoil of life can love stand, Where there is not one heart, and one mouth, and one hand? Some seek for dissension, and trouble, and strife ; Like a dog and a cat live such man and wife. Annie of Tharaw, such is not our love; Whate'er my desire is, in thine may be seen; It is this, O my Annie, my heart's sweetest rest, That makes of us twain but one soul in one breast. This turns to a heaven the hut where we dwell; While wrangling soon changes a home to a hell. THE STATUE OVER THE CATHEDRAL DOOR. FROM THE GERMAN OF JULIUS MOSEN. FORMS of saints and kings are standing Yet I saw but one among them Who hath soothed my soul with love. |