Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
Hymn for the Boatmen, as They Approach the Rapids under the Castle of Heidelberg
By William Wordsworth (17701850)J
By the current swept along!
Loud its threatenings,—let them not
Drown the music of a song
Breathed thy mercy to implore,
Where these troubled waters roar!
Bleeding on that precious Rood!
If, while through the meadows green
Gently wound the peaceful flood,
We forgot thee, do not thou
Disregard thy suppliants now!
Watching o’er the river’s bed,
Fling the shadow of thy power,
Else we sleep among the dead;
Thou who trod’st the billowy sea,
Shield us in our jeopardy!
Through the rocks our passage smooth,
Where the whirlpool frets and raves,
Let thy love its anger soothe:
All our hope is placed in thee;
Miserere Domine!