Ludwig Tieck: “Autumn Song”

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Excerpt, “The Poetry of Germany, Consisting from Upwards of Seventy of the Most Celebrated Poets.”  Translated into English Verse by Alfred Baskerville.  1853.

autumn_song_

AUTUMN SONG

.

A little bird flew o’er the lea,

And in the sunshine merrily,

It sang so sweetly, and so clear,

“Farewell, I flee far, far from here

Away

This very day.”

 .

I listened long unto the lay,

I felt so sad, I felt so gay,

With sorrow’s joys, with pleasure’s woes,

My breast alternate sank and rose,

Rends pain,

Or joy my heart in twain?

.

But when some leaves fell at my side,

“Alas! The autumn comes,” I cried,

“The swallow seeks a warmer clime,”

Thus love, perhaps, on the wings of time,

Will flee,

So far from me.”

 .

But ’gain the sun shone o’er the lea,

The little bird flew back to me,

It saw my eyes suffused with tears,

And sang, “True love no winter fears,

No! No!

It’s spring that shall ever glow!”

, September 28, 2014. Tieck

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