The Landlady’s Daughter

Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862)

From the German by John Sullivan Dwight

THREE students were travelling over the Rhine;

They stopped when they came to the landlady’s sign;

“Good landlady, have you good beer and wine?

And where is that dear little daughter of thine?”

“My beer and wine are fresh and clear;

My daughter she lies on the cold death-bier!”

And when to the chamber they made their way,

There, dead, in the coal-black shrine, she lay.

The first he drew near, and the veil gently raised,

And on her pale face he mournfully gazed:

“Ah! wert thou but living yet,” he said,

“I ’d love thee from this time forth, fair maid!”

The second he slowly put back the shroud,

And turned him away and wept aloud:

“Ah! that thou liest in the cold death-bier!

Alas! I have loved thee for many a year!”

The third he once more uplifted the veil,

And kissed her upon her mouth so pale:

“Thee loved I always; I love still but thee;

And thee will I love through eternity!”