Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ANNO 1829, by HEINRICH HEINE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ANNO 1829, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Give me a wide and noble field
Last Line: With trembling haste some region far.
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Death; Dead, The


GIVE me a wide and noble field
Where I may perish decently!
O let me in this narrow world
Of shops be not condemned to die!

They eat full well, they drink full well,
And revel in their mole-like bliss;
Their magnanimity's as great
As any poor-box opening is.

Cigars they carry in their mouths,
Their hands we in their breeches view,
And their digestive powers are great, --
O could we but digest them too!

They trade in every spice that grows
Upon the earth, yet we can trace,
Despite their spices, in the air
The odour of a grovelling race.

Could I some great transgressions, yes,
Colossal bloody crimes but see, --
Aught but this virtue flat and tame,
This solvent strict morality!

Ye clouds on high, O bear me hence,
To some far spot without delay!
To Lapland or to Africa,
To Pomerania e'en -- away!

O bear me hence! -- They hearken not --
The clouds on high so prudent are!
They fly above this town, to seek
With trembling haste some region far.





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