Pfeifet de Wald aus und ein, wo wird mein Schatze sein?
Vogele im Tannenwald pfeitet so hell.'
And he has nothing more to say. That is his whole soul for the time
being; and, like a bird, he sings it over and over again, and never
tires.
Another, a Nieder-Rheinischer, watches the moon rise over the
Lowenburg, and thinks upon his love within the castle hall, till he
breaks out in a strange, sad, tender melody--not without stateliness
and manly confidence in himself and in his beloved--in the true
strain of the nightingale:
'Verstohlen geht der Mond auf,
Blau, blau, Blumelein,
Durch Silberwolkchen fuhrt sein Lauf.
Rosen im Thal, Madel im Saal, O schonste Rosa!
* * *
Und siehst du mich,
Und siehst du sie,
Blau, blau, Blumelein,
Zwei treu're Herzen sah'st du nie;
Rosen im Thal u. s. w.'
There is little sense in the words, doubtless, according to our
modern notions of poetry; but they are like enough to the long,
plaintive notes of the nightingale to say all that the poet has to
say, again and again through all his stanzas.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25