Lake and Mountains. Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805). Switzerland: Lucerne, the Lake. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. 1876-79. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Switzerland and Austria: Vol. XVI. 1876–79.

Switzerland: Lucerne, the Lake

Lake and Mountains

Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805)


(From William Tell, Act I, Scene I) Translated by C. T. Brooks FISHER-BOY IN THE BOAT THERE ’s a smile on the lake,—there ’s a voice from the deep;
The boy on the green shore sank gently to sleep;
And, hark! a sweet melody
Steals o’er his rest,
Like the voices of angels	5
In groves of the blest;
And when, fresh and buoyant, from slumber he wakes,
Lo! the wave on his bosom just murmurs and breaks,
And the billow calls softly:
“Dear boy, thou art mine!	10
Round the peace-loving shepherd
My fond arms I twine.”

HERDSMAN ON THE MOUNTAIN Ye meadows, farewell!
Ye pastures, still shining!
The summer’s declining,	15
And herdsmen must go.
Then away to the mountain!—We ’re coming again,
When the call of the cuckoo is heard on the plain,
When streamlets murmur, and earth is gay,
And blossoms and birds tell of lovely May.	20
Ye meadows, farewell!
Ye pastures, still shining!
The summer ’s declining,
And herdsmen must go.

ALPINE HUNTER ON AN OPPOSITE CRAG Mid thundering mountains, on tottering bridge,	25
Dreads not the bold hunter the perilous ridge.
O’er ice-fields, undaunted,
He wanders alone,
Where blossoms no spring-time,
Nor green thing is known.	30
Beneath him the clouds in vast billows roll by,
And the dwellings of men are all hid from his eye,
Till the clouds yawn asunder;
Then, glittering in green,
Far down through the waters	35
Gay meadows are seen.