Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
The Monk of Heisterbach
By Carl Wilhelm Müller (17281801)I
Went sauntering through the garden’s farthest ground,
Reading God’s Holy Word in silence, sunk
In musings on eternity profound.
“One day is with the Lord a thousand years,
A thousand years with him are but a day,”—
But, in his maze of doubt, no clew appears.
And deeper in the wood is lost his track,
Until the bell, with holy vesper chime,
To serious cloister-duties calls him back.
Of an unknown one answers now the bell;
He starts—but sees the church all lighted stand,
And hears the friars the holy chorus swell.
But strange to tell, he finds it occupied;
He looks upon the monks in their long rows,
He sees all strangers, there, on every side.
They ask his name, and why he there appears;
He tells,—low murmurs through the chapel sound!
“None such has lived here these three hundred years.
“A doubter was, and disappeared one day;
None, since, to take that name has been allowed”—
He hears the word, and shudders with dismay.
They call for the old cloister-book, and lo!
A mighty miracle of God is clear:
’T is he was lost three hundred years ago!
A deathly paleness settles on his face,—
He sinks,—while breath enough is left to say:
“God is exalted over time and space!
Think of my fate, believe, adore, obey!
I know: a day is as a thousand years
With God, a thousand years are as a day!”