Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
TranslationsFrom the German. The Bird and the Ship
By Wilhelm Müller
“T
By castle and town they go;
The winds behind them merrily
Their noisy trumpets blow.
We little birds in them play;
And everything, that can sing and fly,
Goes with us, and far away.
With thy fluttering golden band?”—
“I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea
I haste from the narrow land.
I see no longer a hill,
I have trusted all to the sounding gale,
And it will not let me stand still.
Thou mayest stand on the mainmast tall,
For full to sinking is my house
With merry companions all.”—
Bonny boat, I can sing all alone;
For the mainmast tall too heavy am I,
Bonny boat, I have wings of my own.
Who shall gainsay these joys?
When thy merry companions are still, at last,
Thou shalt hear the sound of my voice.
God bless them every one!
I dart away, in the bright blue day,
And the golden fields of the sun.
Wherever the four winds blow;
And this same song, my whole life long,
Neither Poet nor Printer may know.”