Wilhelm Müller: “On the Rhine is My Heart”

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

rhine

ON THE RHINE IS MY HEART

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On the Rhine is my heart, where affection holds sway!

On the Rhine is my heart, where encradled I lay,

Where around me friends bloom,

where I dreamt away youth,

Where the heart of my love glows with rapture and truth,

O where I have revelled in song and in wine:

Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!

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All hail, thou broad torrent, so golden and green,

Ye castles and churches, ye hamlets serene,

Ye cornfields that wave in the breeze as it sweeps,

Ye forests and ravines, ye towering steeps,

Ye mountains e’er clad in the sun-illumed vine!

Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!

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I greet thee, O life, with a yearning so strong,

In the maze of the dance, o’er the goblet and song,

All hail, belov’d race, men so honest and true,

And maids who speak raptures with eyes of bright blue!

May success round your brows e’er its garlands entwine!

Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!

.

On the Rhine is my heart, where affection holds sway!

On the Rhine is my heart, where encradled I lay,

Where around me friends bloom,

where I dreamt away youth,

Where the heart of my love glows with rapture and truth!

May for me your hearts e’er the same jewels enshrine!

Wherever I go is my heart on the Rhine!