Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Rhine, the River | | The German Rhine | | Nicolaus Becker (1810–1845) |
| | Translated by H. W. Dulcken
NO, no, they shall not have him, | |
| Our free-born German Rhine, | |
| Though, like the famished raven, | |
| They, croaking, for it pine! | |
| So long in verdant vesture | 5 |
| He peacefully doth glide, | |
| So long a plashing boat-oar | |
| Shall cleave his rippling tide! | |
| |
| No, no, they shall not have him, | |
| Our free-born German Rhine, | 10 |
| So long there still refresheth | |
| Our heart his fiery wine; | |
| So long the mountains firmly | |
| Shall stand from out his stream, | |
| So long a lofty steeple | 15 |
| Shall from his mirror beam! | |
| |
| No, no, they shall not have him, | |
| Our free-born German Rhine, | |
| While free men and fair maidens | |
| Shall seek the marriage shrine; | 20 |
| So long beneath his waters | |
| A single fish there dives, | |
| So long among his singers | |
| A single lay there lives. | |
| |
| No, no, they shall not have him, | 25 |
| Our free-born German Rhine, | |
| Till, buried ’neath his waters, | |
| The latest man hath lien! | | | | |
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