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CHILDHER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Chidher, the ever youthful, told
Last Line: I want to pass the self-same way.
Alternate Author Name(s): Raimar, Freidmund


Chidher, the ever youthful, told:
I passed a city, bright to see.
A man was culling fruits of gold;
I asked him how old this town might be.
He answered, culling as before:
"This town stood ever in days of yore,
And will stand on forevermore!"
Five hundred years from yonder day
I passed again the self-same way,

And of the town I found no trace.
A shepherd blew on a reed instead;
His herd was grazing on the place.
"How long," I asked, "is the city dead?"
He answered, blowing as before:
"The new crop grows the old one o'er;
This was my pasture evermore!"
Five hundred years from yonder day
I passed again the self-same way.

A sea I found; the tide was full,
A sailor emptied nets with cheer;
And when he rested from his pull,
I asked how long that sea were here.
Then laughed he with a hearty roar:
"As long as waves have washed this shore
They fished here ever in days of yore."
Five hundred years from yonder day
I passed again the self-same way.

I found a forest settlement,
And o'er his axe, a tree to fell,
I saw a man in labour bent.
How old this wood I bade him tell.
"'Tis everlasting; long before
I lived, it stood in days of yore,"
He quoth; "and shall grow evermore."
Five hundred years from yonder day
I passed again the self-same way.

I saw a town; the market-square
Was swarming with a noisy throng.
"How long," I asked, "has this town been there?
Where are wood and sea and shepherd's song?"
I heard them cry among the roar:
"This town was ever so before,
And so will live forevermore."
Five hundred years from yonder day
I want to pass the self-same way.





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