Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
Song of the Rhine
By From the GermanTranslated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
F
Beneath Helvetia’s Alpine steep,
And joined in youthful company
Its fellow-travellers to the sea.
The Neckar, the Mosel, the Lahu, and the Main,
And strengthened by each rushing tide,
Onward he marched in kingly pride.
The satraps of his power,
The current’s flowing veins unclasp,—
He moves in pride no more.
On that rebellious day,
And, bursting from their monarch’s yoke,
Each chose a separate way.
Flowed sidewards o’er the land,
And a nameless brook, by Leyden’s wall,
The Rhine sank in the sand.