The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries - novelonlinefull.com
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Hurrah! Germania!
Down sickle then and wreath of wheat Amidst the corn were cast, And, starting fiercely to thy feet, Thy heart beat loud and fast; Then with a shout I heard thee call: "Well, since you will, you may!
Up, up, my children, one and all, On to the Rhine! Away!"
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Germania!
From port to port the summons flew, Rang o'er our German wave; The Oder on her harness drew, The Elbe girt on her glaive; Neckar and Weser swell the tide, Main flashes to the sun, Old feuds, old hates are dash'd aside, All German men are one!
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Germania!
Suabian and Prussian, hand in hand, North, South, one host, one vow!
"What is the German's Fatherland?"
Who asks that question now?
One soul, one arm, one close-knit frame, One will are we today; Hurrah, Germania! thou proud dame, Oh, glorious time, hurrah!
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Germania!
Germania now, let come what may, Will stand unshook through all;
This is our country's festal day; Now woe betide thee, Gaul!
Woe worth the hour a robber thrust Thy sword into thy hand!
A curse upon him that we must Unsheathe our German brand!
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Germania!
For home and hearth, for wife and child, For all loved things that we Are bound to keep all undefiled From foreign ruffianry!
For German right, for German speech, For German household ways, For German homesteads, all and each, Strike home through battle's blaze!
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Hurrah! Germania!
Up, Germans, up, with G.o.d! The die Clicks loud--we wait the throw!
Oh, who may think without a sigh What blood is doom'd to flow?
Yet, look thou up, with fearless heart!
Thou must, thou shalt prevail!
Great, glorious, free as ne'er thou wert, All hail, Germania, hail!
Hurrah! Victoria!
Hurrah! Germania!
THE TRUMPET OF GRAVELOTTE[47] (Aug. 16, 1870)
Death and Destruction they belched forth in vain, We grimly defied their thunder; Two columns of foot and batteries twain, We rode and cleft them asunder.
With brandished sabres, with reins all slack, Raised standards, and low-couched lances, Thus we Uhlans and Cuira.s.siers wildly drove back, And hotly repelled their advances.
But the ride was a ride of death and of blood; With our thrusts we forced them to sever; But of two whole regiments, l.u.s.ty and good, Out of two men, one rose never.
With breast shot through, with brow gaping wide, They lay pale and cold in the valley, s.n.a.t.c.hed away in their youth, in their manhood's pride-- Now, Trumpeter, sound to the rally!
And he took the trumpet, whose angry thrill Urged us on to the glorious battle, And he blew a blast--but all silent and still Was the trump, save a dull hoa.r.s.e rattle,
Save a voiceless wail, save a cry of woe, That burst forth in fitful throbbing-- A bullet had pierced its metal through, For the Dead the wounded was sobbing!
For the faithful, the brave, for our brethren all, For the Watch on the Rhine, true-hearted!
Oh, the sound cut into our inmost soul!-- It brokenly wailed the Departed!
And now fell the night, and we galloped past, Watch-fires were flaring and flying, Our chargers snorted, the rain poured fast-- And we thought of the Dead and the Dying!
MORITZ GRAF VON STRACHWITZ
DOUGLAS OF THE BLEEDING HEART[48] (1842)
Earl Douglas, don thy helm so bright, And buckle thy sword with speed, Bind on thy sharpest spurs to-night And saddle thy swiftest steed!
"The death watch ticks in the hall of Scone, All Scotland hears its warning, King Robert in pains of death does groan, He'll never see the morning."
For nigh on forty miles they sped And spoke of words not four, And horse and spur with blood were red When they came to the palace door.
King Robert lay at the north tower's turn; With death he'd begun to battle: "I hear the sword of Bannockburn On the stairway clatter and rattle.
"Ha! Welcome in G.o.d's name, gallant lord!
My end cometh presently, And thou shalt harken my latest word And write down my will for me:
"'Twas on the day of Bannockburn, When Scotland's star rose high, 'Twas on the day of Bannockburn That a vow to G.o.d vowed I;
"I vowed that, should He defend my right And give me the victory there, With a thousand lances I'd go to fight For His holy sepulchre.
"I'm perjured, for still my heart doth stand, 'Twas broken with care and strife; The man who would rule o'er the Scottish land May scarce lead a pilgrim's life.
"But thou, when my voice has sunk to rest, When grief and glory depart, Shalt straightway cut from out my breast My battle-o'erwearied heart.
"Then thou shalt wrap the samite red And lock it in yellow gold, And when o'er my bier the ma.s.s is said, Let the flag of the cross be unrolled.
"Take a thousand steeds at thy command And a thousand knights also, And carry my heart to the Savior's land That peace my soul may know."
"Make ready, gallants, for the start, Let plume from helmet sway!
The Douglas bears the Bruce's heart, And who shall bar his way?
"Now cut the ropes, ye seamen brave And hoist the sail so free!
The king must to his dark, dark grave, And we to the dark-blue sea."
Then into the east they sailed away Full ninety days and nine, And at the dawn of the hundredth day They landed in Palestine.
