Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Hanau | | Prince Wrede’s Death | | Arthur Rapp |
| | | BY Hanau, where the Kinzig dark and deep, | |
| To meet the Main, rolls on its treacherous way, | |
| Right on the road to Frankfurt, it is spanned | |
| By an old bridge, built strong of basalt gray. | |
| Midway, encased within the basalt wall, | 5 |
| A narrow marble tablet marks a name. | |
| ’T is but the one word: Wrede, but it speaks | |
| To German hearts of glory and of fame. | |
| |
| Napoleon, after Leipzig’s stern defeat, | |
| To gain his France once more, here on his way | 10 |
| Met proud Bavaria’s proudest prince. At last | |
| The dauntless lion found himself at bay. | |
| But, though ten thousand French were forced to find | |
| In Kinzig’s treacherous flood a horrid grave, | |
| Prince Wrede too fell, wounded unto death. | 15 |
| Yon tablet marks the spot. God rest the brave! | |
| |
| And now the legend goes, that on this spot | |
| Where Wrede fell, his ghost is often seen. | |
| For, when the moon with her full flood of light | |
| Upon that tablet throws her silver sheen, | 20 |
| ’T is said, the prince, casting upon the flood | |
| A pitying look, tries, so the story goes, | |
| To stem the rushing waters, and to save | |
| The drowned thousands of his ghostly foes. | | | | |
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