Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PICTURES OF TRAVEL: THE BALTIC, PART 2: 1. SEA SALUTATION, by HEINRICH HEINE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PICTURES OF TRAVEL: THE BALTIC, PART 2: 1. SEA SALUTATION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thalatta! Thalatta!
Last Line: Thalatta! Thalatta!
Subject(s): Sea; Ocean


THALATTA! Thalatta!
Hail to thee, O thou Ocean eterne!
Hail to thee ten thousand times
From hearts all exulting,
As formerly hail'd thee
Ten thousand Grecian hearts,
Misfortune-contending, homeward-aspiring,
World-renown'd Grecian hearts.

The billows were heaving,
They heaved and they bluster'd,
The sun shed hastily downwards
His light so sportive and rosy-hued;
The sudden-startled flocks of sea-mews
Flutter'd along, loud screaming,
The horses were stamping, the bucklers were ringing,
And afar there resounded triumphantly:
Thalatta! Thalatta!

Hail to thee, O thou Ocean eterne!
Like voices of home thy waters are rushing,
Like visions of childhood saw I a glimmering
Over thy heaving billowy-realm,
And olden remembrance again tells me stories
Of all the darling, beautiful playthings,
Of all the glittering Christmas presents,
Of all the ruddy coral branches,
The gold fish, pearls and colour'd shells
Which thou mysteriously dost keep
Down yonder in bright crystal house.

O how have I languish'd in drear foreign lands!
Like to a wither'd flower
In the tin case of a botanist,
Lay in my bosom my heart;
Methought whole winters long I sat
An invalid, in darksome sick-room,
And now I suddenly leave it,
And with dazzling rays am I greeted
By emerald springtime, the sunny-awaken'd,
And the snowy blossoming trees are all rustling,
And the youthful flowers upon me gaze
With eyes all chequer'd and fragrant; [laughing,
There's a perfume and humming and breathing and
And the birds in the azure heavens are singing --
Thalatta! Thalatta!

Thou valiant retreating heart!
How oft, how bitter-oft, wast thou
Hard press'd by the Northern barbarian women!
From large victorious eyes
Shot they their burning arrows;
With words both crooked and polish'd
They threatened to cleave my breast,
With cuniform billets-doux harass'd they
My poor distracted brain --
In vain I held my shield to resist them,
The arrows whizz'd and the blows crash'd heavily,
And by the Northern barbarian women
Back to the sea was I driven,
And freely breathing I hailed the sea,
The darling life-saving sea,
Thalatta! Thalatta!





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