Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.
Thalatta
By Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)T
I greet thee, thou Ocean eternal!
I give thee ten thousand times greeting,
With heart all exulting,
As, ages since, hailed thee
Those ten thousand Greek hearts
Fate-conquering, home-yearning,
World-renowned Greek hearts.
Were rolling and roaring,
The sun poured downward incessant
The flickering rose-lights;
Affrighted, the flocks of the sea-mews
Fluttered away, loud screaming;
The steeds were stamping, the shields were clanging,
And far, like a shout of victory, echoed
Thalatta! Thalatta!
Like the tongue of my home is the dash of thy waters!
Like dreams of my childhood now sparkle before me
All the wide curving waves of thy rolling dominions.
I hear, as told newly, the old recollections
Of the trifles I loved in the days of my boyhood.
Of the bright gifts that glittered at Christmas;—
Of the scarlet branches of coral,
Of the gold-fish, the pearls and gay sea-shells,
Of all that thou guardest in secret
Below in thy houses of crystal!
Aweary in exile!
Like a poor faded flower shut up in an herbal
Lay my heart in my bosom;
’T is as if I had sat through the winter
A sick man shut up in my chamber,
And now I had suddenly left it,—
And dazzlingly glitters upon me
The emerald Spring, sun-awakened!
On the trees are the white blossoms rustling,
And the young flowers look up unto me,
With moist loving eyes full of beauty.
All is fragrance and murmurs and soft airs and laughter,
And in the blue heavens the birds are a singing
Thalatta! Thalatta!