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Home  »  A Harvest of German Verse  »  Theodor Storm (1817–1888)

Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916.

By The City

Theodor Storm (1817–1888)

THE SHORE is gray, the sea is gray,

And there the city stands;

The mists upon the houses weigh,

And through the calm the ocean gray

Roars dully on the strands.

There are no rustling woods, there fly

No singing birds in May;

The wild goose with its callous cry

Alone on autumn nights soars by;

The wind-blown grasses sway.

And yet my whole heart clings to thee,

Gray city by the sea;

And e’er the spell of youth for me

Doth smiling rest on thee, on thee

Gray city by the sea.