From the German by Sir Theodore Martin and William Edmondstoune Aytoun
WHO rides so late through the midnight blast?
’T is a father spurs on with his child full fast;
He gathers the boy well into his arm,
He clasps him close and he keeps him warm.
“My son, why thus to my arm dost cling?”—
“Father, dost thou not see the elfin-king?
The...
From the German by Charles Timothy Brooks
THE WATERS purled, the waters swelled,—
A fisher sat near by,
And earnestly his line beheld
With tranquil heart and eye;
And while he sits and watches there,
He sees the waves divide,
And, lo! a maid, with glistening hair,
Springs from the troubled tide.
She sang to him,...
From the German by Thomas Carlyle
From “Wilhelm Meister”
“KNOW’ST thou the land where citron-apples bloom,
And oranges like gold in leafy gloom,
A gentle wind from deep-blue heaven blows,
The myrtle thick, and high the laurel grows?
Know’st thou it then?
’T is there! ’T is there,
O my true loved one, thou with me...
Anonymous translation from the German
“Ohne Hast, ohne Rast.”
WITHOUT haste! without rest!
Bind the motto to thy breast;
Bear it with thee as a spell:
Storm and sunshine guard it well!
Heed not flowers that round thee bloom,
Bear it onward to the tomb.
Haste not! Let no thoughtless deed
Mar for aye the spirit’s speed;...
