'Mid waves there gleams the pallid strand; Afar through blurring tears is seen The seacoast of my fatherland. Exhausted, by the mast I lean. The lilacs bloom, the swallows stray, The starlings' chatter fills the air, The organ-grinder grinds his lay, The wind's light kiss is on my hair. Before the guardhouse soldiers stand, And arm in arm laugh damsels young, While from the school there pours a band That frolics in my native tongue. My heart cries out in rapture wild, Rejoicing my old home to greet, And all I lived with as a child Like echoes on my way I meet. |