Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Miscellaneous

Consolation

By Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788–1857)

Translated by H. W. Dulcken

THERE sang full many a poet,

In our beautiful German land,

Whose songs now no longer echo;—

The singers rest in the sand.

But still, while around our planet

The stars through the heavens shall range,

Shall hearts sing, in changing measure,

Of the beauty that knows no change.

I’ the woodland yonder lies ruined

The home of the heroes hoar;

But yearly, from hall and portal,

The spring breaks forth as before.

Wherever the weary warriors

Sink down in the maddening rout,

New races are forward springing,

And fighting it honestly out.