Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
The Lorelei
By Rowland E. Egerton-Warburton (18041891)W
By the walls of Bacharach,
There a bright-eyed sorceress dwells,
Hearts bewitching with her spells.
Bravest men are sorely vext,
Knight nor peasant rescue find
Whom her love-enchantments bind.
Judgment from the church to hear;
But could not her doom decree,
Of so fair a form was she!
“Lorelei, misguided maid!
What hath tempted thee to ply
Damnéd craft of sorcery?”
Weary of my life am I;
In my glance there lurketh death,
Whom I look on perisheth!
Magic wand this arm of mine!
Bind me to the burning stake,
This my wand of magic break.”
Till thou hast confession made;
Why, e’en now those flaming eyne
Burn into this heart of mine.
Dare not break thy magic wand,
Or, with pity for thy sake,
Truly my own heart would break.”
Sporting with my misery?
Bishop! more I need thy prayer
That God’s mercy I may share;
My sad heart again to love;
Let thy lips my doom decree:
Death no terror has for me!
Left me a forsaken maid,
Wandering on some foreign shore,
To return again no more.
Cheeks where blended hues unite,
Voice of sweet and sorrowing tone,
My enchantments,—these alone!
Anguish-stricken, I must die;
When my features I survey,
Sorrow wastes my heart away.
That with Jesu I may live;
Why must I on earth abide,
Severed from my lover’s side?”
“Bear her to the cloister straight.”
“Lorelei! God’s mercy still
Guard thy brain from further ill!
Robe of black, and veil of white,
There to prayer and penance given,
Win thy way from earth to heaven!”
Ride forth to the nunnery;
Sadly on, with tearful eye,
In the midst rode Lorelei.
Stand upon yon rocky height,
Once again my sight would fall
On my lover’s castle wall;
Look into the depth of Rhine:
Then, within the cloister gate,
I on God will ever wait.”
Like a wall rose straight and steep,
Climbing up from stone to stone,
On the top she stood alone.
On the Rhine-stream floating by;
He whom I, returning, see
Must, I trow, my lover be!
My lost lover, it is he!”
From the mountain’s rocky bank
Plunging, in the Rhine she sank!