Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.
The Danube
By Ján Kollár (1793–1852)Translated by John Bowring
D
Of all Slavonia, venerable mother!
Why to a foreign ocean dost thou flow,
Why leave thy native home to seek another?
O, if thou love thy birthplace, if thou know
Pity for these thy sorrowing children, glide
Not to the Osmans, but these tears of woe
Bear to thy cradle on thy silver tide.
Dost thou seek wreaths of fame?—it is no fame
To bear a hundred ships upon thy face
While it is watered by a single tear,—
Yet this is glory, when Wletawa here
Joins to thy name its own fraternal name,
And thy bride Saale speeds to thine embrace.