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Home  »  The Sonnets of Europe  »  Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.

To My Mother (II.)

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

Translated by Stratheir

IN a wild mood of yore I left thee, turning

Throughout the ends of the wide earth to wander,

To seek a love that I might meet with fonder,

And clasp it with love’s own ecstatic burning.

Through every path I followed love with yearning,

With out-stretched hands before each door-step yonder,

I begged a dole of love that men do squander,—

Yet met with but cold hate and laughter spurning.

Still ever roamed I in love’s quest, and ever

I followed love, and yet did find love never,

And home returned again, heart-sick and rueing.

But thou didst come in welcome forth to meet me,

And, oh! within thy swimming eyes did greet me

The sweet love I had been so long pursuing.