Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DIALOGUE ON PADERBORN HEATH, by HEINRICH HEINE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DIALOGUE ON PADERBORN HEATH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hear'st thou not far music ringing
Last Line: What my bosom holds within it?
Subject(s): Grief; Music & Musicians; Sorrow; Sadness


HEAR'ST thou not far music ringing,
As of double-bass and fiddle?
Many fair ones there are springing
Gaily up and down the middle.

"You're mistaken friend, in speaking
"Thus of fiddle and its brother;
"I but hear young porkers squeaking,
"And the grunting of their mother.

Hear'st thou not the forest bugle?
Hunters in the chase are straying;
Gentle lambs are feeding, frugal
Shepherds on their pipes are playing.

"Ah, my friend, what you just now heard,
"Was not bugles, pipes, or hunters;
"I can only see the sow-herd
"Slowly driving home his grunters."

Hear'st thou not the distant voices
In sweet rivalry contending?
Many an angel blest rejoices
Strains like these to hear ascending.

"Ah, that music sweetly ringing
"Is, my friend, no rival chorus;
"'Tis but youthful gooseherds, singing
"As they drive their geese before us."

Hear'st thou not the church-bells holy,
Sweet and clear, with deep emotion?
To the village-chapel slowly
Wend the people with devotion.

"Ah, my friend, the bells 'tis only
"Of the cows and oxen also,
"Who, with sunken heads and lonely,
"Go back to their gloomy stalls so."

See'st thou not the veil just moving?
See'st thou not those soft advances?
There I see my mistress loving,
Humid sorrow in her glances.

"She, my friend, who nods so much, is
"An old woman, Betsy namely;
"Pale and haggard, on her crutches
"O'er the meadow limps she lamely."

Overwhelm me with confusion
At my questions, friend, each minute;
Wilt thou deem a mere illusion
What my bosom holds within it?





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