There sat one day in quiet, By an alehouse on the Rhine, Four hale and hearty fellows, And drank the precious wine. The landlord's daughter filled their cups, Around the rustic board Then sat they all so calm and still, And spake not one rude word. But, when the maid departed, A Swabian raised his hand, And cried, all hot and flushed with wine, "Long live the Swabian land! "The greatest kingdom upon earth Cannot with that compare With all the stout and hardy men And the nut-brown maidens there. "Ha!" cried a Saxon, laughing, And dashed his heard with wine; "I had rather live in Laplaud, Than that Swabian land of thine! "The goodliest land on all this earth, It is the Saxon land There have I as many maidens As fingers on this hand!" "Hold your tongues! both Swabian and Saxon!" A bold Bohemian cries; "If there's a heaven upon this earth, In Bohemia it lies. "There the tailor blows the flute, And the cobbler blows the horn, And the miner blows the bugle, Over mountain gorge and bourn." And then the landlord's daughter Up to heaven raised her hand, And said, "Ye may no more contend,-- There lies the happiest land!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COLD NIGHT by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS HEART AND MIND by EDITH SITWELL SLOW TO COME, QUICK A-GONE by WILLIAM BARNES GRIEF WAS SENT THEE FOR THY GOOD by THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY A NEW PILGRIMAGE: 11 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT FO'C'S'LE YARNS: ENVOY. GO BACK! by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN ARTEMIS ON LATMOS by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR |