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Home  »  Complete Poetical Works by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  »  From the German. Whither?

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.

Translations

From the German. Whither?

  • (Wohin?)
    By Wilhelm Müller


  • I HEARD a brooklet gushing

    From its rocky fountain near,

    Down into the valley rushing,

    So fresh and wondrous clear.

    I know not what came o’er me,

    Nor who the counsel gave;

    But I must hasten downward,

    All with my pilgrim-stave;

    Downward, and ever farther,

    And ever the brook beside;

    And ever fresher murmured,

    And ever clearer, the tide.

    Is this the way I was going?

    Whither, O brooklet, say!

    Thou hast, with thy soft murmur,

    Murmured my senses away.

    What do I say of a murmur?

    That can no murmur be;

    ’T is the water-nymphs, that are singing

    Their roundelays under me.

    Let them sing, my friend, let them murmur,

    And wander merrily near;

    The wheels of a mill are going

    In every brooklet clear.