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(Anke von Tharau)
By Simon Dach
ANNIE of Tharaw, my true love of old, | |
| She is my life, and my goods, and my gold. | |
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| Annie of Tharaw her heart once again | |
| To me has surrendered in joy and in pain. | |
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| Annie of Tharaw, my riches, my good, | 5 |
| Thou, O my soul, my flesh, and my blood! | |
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| Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, | |
| We will stand by each other, however it blow. | |
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| Oppression, and sickness, and sorrow, and pain | |
| Shall be to our true love as links to the chain. | 10 |
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| As the palm-tree standeth so straight and so tall, | |
| The more the hail beats, and the more the rains fall,— | |
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| So love in our hearts shall grow mighty and strong, | |
| Through crosses, through sorrows, through manifold wrong. | |
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| Shouldst thou be torn from me to wander alone | 15 |
| In a desolate land where the sun is scarce known,— | |
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| Through forests I’ll follow, and where the sea flows, | |
| Through ice, and through iron, through armies of foes. | |
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| Annie of Tharaw, my light and my sun, | |
| The threads of our two lives are woven in one. | 20 |
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| Whate’er I have bidden thee thou hast obeyed, | |
| Whatever forbidden thou hast not gainsaid. | |
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| How in the turmoil of life can love stand, | |
| Where there is not one heart, and one mouth, and one hand? | |
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| Some seek for dissension, and trouble, and strife; | 25 |
| Like a dog and a cat live such man and wife. | |
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| Annie of Tharaw, such is not our love; | |
| Thou art my lambkin, my chick, and my dove. | |
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| Whate’er my desire is, in thine may be seen; | |
| I am king of the household, and thou art its queen. | 30 |
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| It is this, O my Annie, my heart’s sweetest rest, | |
| That makes of us twain but one soul in one breast. | |
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| This turns to a heaven the hut where we dwell; | |
| While wrangling soon changes a home to a hell. | |
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