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

Büsen, the Island

Old Büsen

By Ditmarsch Popular Song

Translated by F. Max Müller

OLD Büsen sank into the waves;

The sea has made full many graves;

The flood came near and washed around,

Until the rock to dust was ground.

No stone remained, no belfry steep;

All sank into the waters deep.

There was no beast, there was no hound;

They all were carried to the ground.

And all that lived and laughed around

The sea now holds in gloom profound.

At times, when low the water falls,

The sailor sees the broken walls;

The church-tower peeps from out the sand,

Like to the finger of a hand.

Then hears one low the church-bells ringing,

Then hears one low the sexton singing;

A chant is carried by the gust:

“Give earth to earth and dust to dust.”