Poems and Ballads of Heinrich Heine Part 16

Next to me lives Don Henriquez, He whom folk "the beauty" call; Neighborly our rooms are parted Only by a single wall.

Salamanca's ladies flutter When he strides along the street, Clinking spurs, mustachoes twirling, And with hounds about his feet.

But in quiet hours of evening He will sit at home apart, His guitar between his fingers, And sweet dreams within his heart.

Then he smites the chords with pa.s.sion, All at once begins to strum.

Ah, like squalling cats his sc.r.a.pings, Toll-de-roll and toodle-dum!

Lx.x.xIV.

We scarcely had met ere thy voice and thine eye a.s.sured me, my darling, that thou wast mine own; And had not thy mother stood cruelly nigh, I think I should really have kissed thee anon.

To-morrow again I depart from the town, And hasten forth on my weary track, From the window my yellow-haired la.s.s peeps down, And the friendliest greetings I waft her back.

Lx.x.xV.

Lo, on the mountains the sunbeams' first kiss!

The bells of the herd ring afar on the plain, My darling, my lambkin, my sun and my bliss, Oh, fain would I see thee and greet thee again!

I gaze on thy windows with curious eyes.

Farewell, dearest child, I must vanish for thee, In vain! for the curtain moves not--there she lies, There slumbers she still--and dreams about me?

Lx.x.xVI.

In Halle, near the market, There stand two mighty lions.

Ah, lion-strength of Halle town, How art thou tamed and broken!

In Halle, near the market, There stands a mighty giant, He holds a sword and he never moves, He is petrified with terror.

In Halle, near the market, A stately church is standing, Where the _Burschenschaft_ and the _Landsmannschaft_ Have plenty of room to wors.h.i.+p.

Lx.x.xVII.

Dusky summer-eve declineth Over wood and verdant meadow, Golden moon in azure heavens, Wafting fragrance, softly s.h.i.+neth.

By the brook-side chirps the cricket, Something stirs within the water, And the wanderer hears a rustling, Hears a breathing past the thicket.

In the streamlet, white and slender, All alone the nymph is bathing, Beautiful her arms and shoulders s.h.i.+mmer in the moonbeams' splendor.

Lx.x.xVIII.

Night enfolds these foreign meadows, Sick heart, weary limbs caressing.

Ah, thy light athwart the shadows, Moon, is like a quiet blessing!

Gentle moon, thy mild beams banish Gloomy terrors where they hover.

All my woes dissolve and vanish, And mine eyes with dew brim over.

Lx.x.xIX.

Death is like the balmy night, Life is like the sultry day; It is dark, and I am sleepy.

I am weary of the light.

O'er my couch a tree doth spring In its boughs a nightingale Sings of love, of naught but love, In my dream I hear him sing.

XC.

"Tell me where's your lovely maiden, Whom you sang of erst so well, As a flame that through your bosom Pierced with rare, enchanted spell."

Ah, that flame is long extinguished!

And my heart is cold above.

And this little book the urn is For the ashes of my love.

SONGS TO SERAPHINE.

SONGS TO SERAPHINE.

I.

In the dreamy wood I wander, In the wood at even-tide; And thy slender, graceful figure Wanders ever by my side.

Is not this thy white veil floating?

Is not that thy gentle face?

Is it but the moonlight breaking Through the dark fir-branches' s.p.a.ce?

Can these tears so softly flowing Be my very own I hear?

Or indeed, art thou beside me, Weeping, darling, close anear?

II.

Over all the quiet sea-sh.o.r.e Shadowing falls the hour of Hesper; Through the clouds the moon is breaking, And I hear the billows whisper.

"Can that man who wanders yonder Be a lover or a dunce?

For he seems so sad and merry, Sad and merry both at once."