Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
The Protest
By Georg Herwegh (18171875)A
I ’m bounden to protest;
Come, every German musicant,
And fiddle me his best!
You ’re singing of “the Free old Rhine”;
But I say, No, good comrades mine,—
The Rhine could be
Greatly more free,
And that I do protest.
Or was in breeches dressed,
But I began to shout and roar
And mightily protest.
And since that time I ’ve never stopped,
My protestations never dropped;
And blessed be they
Who every way
And everywhere protest.
And schism is all the rest,—
That who ’s a Protestant indeed
Forever must protest.
What is the river Rhine to me?
For, from its source unto the sea,
Men are not free,
Whate’er they be,
And that I do protest.
What always was confessed,
As long as we are Protestants,
We sternly must protest.
And when they sing “the Free old Rhine,”
Answer them “No,” good comrades mine,—
The Rhine could be
Greatly more free,
And that you shall protest.