Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.
The Belfry of Bruges and Other PoemsSongs. Walter von der Vogelweid
V
When he left this world of ours,
Laid his body in the cloister,
Under Würtzburg’s minster towers.
Gave them all with this behest:
They should feed the birds at noontide
Daily on his place of rest;
I have learned the art of song;
Let me now repay the lessons
They have taught so well and long.”
And, fulfilling his desire,
On his tomb the birds were feasted
By the children of the choir.
In foul weather and in fair,
Day by day, in vaster numbers,
Flocked the poets of the air.
Overshadowed all the place,
On the pavement, on the tombstone,
On the poet’s sculptured face,
On the lintel of each door,
They renewed the War of Wartburg,
Which the bard had fought before.
Sang their lauds on every side;
And the name their voices uttered
Was the name of Vogelweid.
Murmured, “Why this waste of food?
Be it changed to loaves henceforward
For our fasting brotherhood.”
From the walls and woodland nests,
When the minster bells rang noontide,
Gathered the unwelcome guests.
Clamorous round the Gothic spire,
Screamed the feathered Minnesingers
For the children of the choir.
On the cloister’s funeral stones,
And tradition only tells us
Where repose the poet’s bones.
By sweet echoes multiplied,
Still the birds repeat the legend,
And the name of Vogelweid.