Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916.
By Union SongErnst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860)
T
Of German men a mighty choir,
And from the lips of each, delighted,
Our praying souls to heaven aspire;
With high and sacred awe abounding,
We join in solemn thoughts to-day,
And so our hearts should be resounding
In clear harmonic song and play.
To God, our Lord, so long concealed,
Who, when the cloud of shame was riven,
Himself in flames to us revealed,
Who, stubborn foes with lightning felling,
Restored to us our strength of yore,
Who, on the stars in power dwelling,
Reigns ever and forevermore.
The majesty of fatherland!
Destroyed be those who still are sneering!
Hail them who with it fall and stand!
By virtue winning admiration,
Beloved for honesty and might,
Long live through centuries our nation,
As strong in honour and in might!
Ring out it shall, with clearness mete!
For Freedom is the German pleasure,
And Germans step to Freedom’s beat.
Be life and death by her inspired—
Of German hearts, oh, longing bright!
And death for Freedom’s sake desired
Is German honour and delight.
Now lift on high both heart and hand!
Old loyalty within our nation
And German faith forever stand!—
These virtues shall, our weal assuring,
Remain our union’s shield and stay;
Our manly word will be enduring
Until the world shall pass away.
In jubilee—stand not apart!
Let sound our mighty, joyful singing
From lip to lip, from heart to heart!
The weal from which no devils bar us,
The word that doth our league infold—
The bliss which tyrants cannot mar us
We must believe in, we must hold!