W. Müller: “The Huntsman’s Joy”
Excerpt, “The Book of German Songs from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century.” Translated and Edited by H. W. Dulcken. 1856.
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THE HUNTSMAN’S JOY
Long live on earth whatever
The mantle green doth grace ;
The woodland and the meadow,
The huntsman and the chase !
‘Tis merry in the greenwood,
Where stag and hind do spring ;
When loudly sounds the bugle,
When rifles flash and ring.
Trara ! Trara !
What though with swarthy powder
I’ve scorched my eyelid o’er ?
I care not, for my maiden
Will love me as before.
My pointer and my maiden
Are ever true to me ;
What need have I to care, then,
For world or vanity ?
Trara ! Trara !
In woods am I the monarch,—
The wood is God’s abode !
I hear his mighty breathing
For ever borne abroad.
And I will be a huntsman
So long the breeze doth blow ;
And I will kiss my maiden
So long her lips do glow.
Trara ! Trara !
Come to the free wild forest,
My child, and dwell with me ;
Of boughs that never wither
I’ll build a hut for thee !
Not in the cold, gray village,
A resting-place I’ll crave ;
The wildwood is my dwelling,
And there shall be my grave !
Trara ! Trara !