Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Holland: Vols. XIV–XV. 1876–79.
The Heron Chase
By Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg (Anastasius Grün) (18061876)W
There rides from the gates of Bruges a party for the chase;
Full many handsome falconers on shapely coursers ride,
And withal the beautiful duchess by her loving husband’s side.
At court they gave him the title of Dominican in jest:
His head a black hood covered, a silver collar he wore,
Which the inscription “Upwards” in golden letters bore.
Where only thorn-bushes flourish, in patches here and there:
On the left the bath of the herons, a little fish-pond, lay,
And here they wash their plumage, and thus their haunt betray.
And a flight of frightened herons to the right and left succeeds,
The vigorous falcons circling from the wrists of the hunters fly,
And mount, as the thoughts of man mount, to the azure of the sky.
As in its aerial circles it sweeps to the left and the right;
Alertly in all directions the eager hunters move,
The earth beneath them trembles, clouds of dust are whirled above.
How it snorts! how with fright it quivers! how it springs on its tangled course!
Hold on! Seize the reins of the runaway! How and where fell the rider? Alas!
There lies the beautiful duchess—and there is the blood-stained grass!
As white as the evening cloud is when the last flush fades in the west;
Ah! how from life’s genial sources the precious red streams start!
Alas! how richly blossoms the crimson rose of her heart!
Bend like twin angels, tenderly, over the pale, dead mother;
So bend twin dewy rosebuds on the same parent spray,
Over the mother flower that storm-stricken fades away!
By her side the white Dominican with mournful look remains;
Would you know his little motto? he had been her own apt scholar,
“Upwards!” in golden letters still gleams upon his collar.