Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SERAPHINA, by HEINRICH HEINE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SERAPHINA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When at evening in the forest
Last Line: Each in the other's love blest.
Subject(s): Grief; Kisses; Moon; Night; Tears; Sorrow; Sadness; Bedtime


1.

WHEN at evening in the forest,
In the dreamlike wood I rove,
Ever doth thy slender figure
Close beside me softly move.

See I not thy gentle features?
Is it not thy veil that stirs?
Can it be the moonlight only
Breaking through the gloomy firs?

Can it be mine own tears only
That I hear all-lightly flow?
Or my loved one, dost thou really
Close beside me weeping go?

2.

O'ER the silent strand of ocean
Night appears in gloomy splendour;
From the clouds the moon is breaking,
As the waves these whispers send her

"Yonder mortal, is he foolish,
"Or is he by love tormented,
"That he looks so sad, yet joyous,
"So distress'd, yet so contented?"

But the moon, with smiles replying,
Loudly said: "Full well I know it;
"He is both in love and foolish,
"And moreover is a poet."

3.

'TIS surely a snowwhite seamew
That I see fluttering there
Just over the darksome billows;
The moon stands high in the air.

The shark and the ray snap fiercely
From out of the wave, and stare;
The seamew is rising and falling,
The moon stands high in the air.

O dear and wandering spirit,
So sad and full of despair!
Too near art thou to the water,
The moon stands high in the air.

4.

I KNEW that thou didst love me,
I knew it long, dear maid;
Yet when thou didst confess it
I felt full sore afraid.

I clamber'd up the mountain
With loud exulting song,
At sunset rambled weeping
The ocean shore along.

The sun my heart resembleth,
So flaming to the sight,
And in a loving ocean
It setteth, great and bright.

5.

HOW curiously the seamew
Looks over at us, dear,
Because against thy lips I
So firmly press my ear!

She maybe would discover
What from thy mouth did flow, --
If words alone or kisses
Thou in my ear didst throw.

D could I but decipher
What 'tis that fills my mind!
The words are with the kisses
So wondrously combined.

6.

AS timid as the roe she fled,
And with its fleetness vying;
She clamber'd on from crag to crag
Her hair behind her flying.

Where to the sea the cliffs descend,
At length I caught the rover;
And gently there with gentle words
Her coy heart soon won over.

High as the heavens we sat, both fill'd
With heavenly blest emotion;
Beneath us by degrees the sun
Sank in the dark deep ocean.

In the dark sea beneath us far
The beauteous sun sank proudly;
The billows with impetuous joy
Were meanwhile roaring loudly.

Weep not, the sun in yonder waves
Hath not for ever perish'd,
But lieth hidden in my heart,
Where all its glow is cherish'd.

7.

UPON this rock we build the Church
Which (type of our to-morrow)
Proclaims the third New Testament,
And ended is our sorrow.

The twofold nature that so long
Deceived us, is abolish'd;
Our olden fierce corporeal pangs
Are now at length demolish'd.

Hear'st thou the God in yon dark sea?
He speaks with thousand voices;
See'st thou how overhead God's sky
With thousand lights rejoices?

Almighty God is in the light,
As in the dark abysses,
And everything there is, is God,
He is in all our kisses.

8.

GRAY night broodeth o'er the ocean,
And the tiny stars are sparkling;
Long protracted voices oft-times
Sound from out the billows darkling.

There the aged north wind sporteth
With the glassy waves of ocean,
Which like organ pipes are skipping
With a never-ceasing motion.

Partly heathenish, partly churchlike,
Strangely doth this music move us,
As it rises boldly upwards,
Gladdening e'en the stars above us.

And the stars, still larger growing,
With a radiant joy are gleaming,
And at length around the heavens
Roam, with sunlike lustre beaming

To far-reaching strains of music
They revolve in madden'd legions
Sunny nightingales are circling
In those fair and blissful regions.

With a mighty roar and crashing,
Sea and heaven alike are singing,
And I feel a giant-rapture
Wildly through my bosom ringing

9.

SHADOWY love and shadowy kisses,
Shadowy life, how wondrous strange!
Fool, dost think, then, that all this is
Ever true and free from change?

Like an empty dream hath vanish'd
All we loved with love so deep;
Memory from the heart is banish'd,
And the eyes are closed in sleep.

10.

THE maid stood by the ocean,
And long and deep sigh'd she
With heartfelt sad emotion,
The setting sun to see.

Sweet maiden, why this fretting?
An olden trick is here;
Although before us setting,
He rises in our rear.

11.

WITH sails all black my ship sails on
Far over the raging sea;
Thou know'st full well how sad am I,
And yet tormentest me.

Thy heart is faithless as the wind,
And flutters ceaselessly;
With sails all black my ship sails on
Far over the raging sea.

12.

THOUGH shamefully thou didst entreat me,
To no man would I e'er unfold it,
But travell'd far over the billows,
And unto the fishes I told it.

I've left thee thy good reputation
With earth and the beings upon her,
But every depth of the ocean
Knows fully thy tale of dishonour.

13.

THE roaring waves are dashing
High on the strand;
They're swelling and they're crashing
Over the sand.

They come in noisy fashion
Unceasingly, --
At length burst into passion, --
But what care we?

14.

THE Runic stone 'mongst the waves stands high,
There sit I, with thoughts far roaming;
The wind pipes loudly, the seamews cry,
The billows are curling and foaming.

I've loved full many a charming girl,
Loved many a comrade proudly --
Where are they now? The billows curl
And foam, and the wind pipes loudly.

15.

THE sea appears all golden
Beneath the sunlit sky,
O let me there be buried,
My brethren, when I die.

The sea I have always loved so,
It oft hath cool'd my breast
With its refreshing billows,
Each in the other's love blest.





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