Category Archives: Jacob Westerbaen


Jacob Westerbaen: “Song”

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Jacob Westerbaen was born 1599, and died in 1670.  Of an illustrious family, a knight, and Lord of Brantwijck, he preferred the elegant leisure of the country to the honors and intrigues of the court.  The greater part of his life was passed in retirement at his chateau of Ockenburg, which he made the subject of a descriptive and didactic poem, after the manner of Thomson’s “Seasons” and “Delille’s “Homme des Champs.”  He published, also, some love songs, and other fugitive poems, and made translations from Virgil, Terence and Ovid.

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SONG
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E’en as a tender rose,

To which the spring gives birth,
Falls when the north wind blows,
And whithers on the earth:
So, when her eye-light throws its glances brightly through me,
I sink o’erwhelmed and gloomy.
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E’en as the herb by day
Its green leaf downwards turns,
What time the sun’s fierce ray
Upon it fiercely burns:
So, ‘neath the quenchless fire, that from her eyes is shining,
I feel myself declining.
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My courage is subdued
By sorrow’s mighty thrill,
And so in solitude
I linger sadly still;
While her sweet witcheries cast their magic influence round me,
And in their chains have bound me.

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