The Emigrants
by Ferdinand Freiligrath�(1810�1876) |
 |
|
I CANNOT take my eyes away
From you, ye busy,
bustling band,
Your little all to see you lay,
Each,
in the waiting seaman's hand!
Ye men, who from your
necks set down
The heavy basket, on the earth,
Of
bread from German corn, baked brown
By German wives, on
German hearth!
And you, with braided queues so neat,
Black-Forest maidens, slim and brown,
How careful on the
sloop's green seat
You set your pails and pitchers down!
Ah! oft have home's cool, shady tanks
These pails and
pitchers filled for you:
On far Missouri's silent banks
Shall these the scenes of home renew:�
The
stone-rimmed fount in village street,
That, as ye
stooped, betrayed your smiles;
The hearth and its
familiar seat;
The mantel and the pictured tiles.
Soon, in the far and wooded West,
Shall log-house walls
therewith be graced;
Soon many a tired and tawny guest
Shall sweet refreshment from them taste.
From them
shall drink the Cherokee,
Faint with the hot and dusty
chase;
No more from German vintage ye
Shall bear them
home, in leal-crowned grace.
Oh, say, why seek ye
other lands?
The Neckar's vale hath wine and corn;
Full of dark firs the Schwarzwald stands;
In Spessart
rings the Alp-herd's horn.
Ah! in strange forests how
ye 'll yearn
For the green mountains of your home,
To
Deutschland's yellow wheatfields turn,
In spirit o'er her
vine-hills roam!
How will the form of days grown pale
In golden dreams float softly by!
Like some unearthly,
mystic tale,
'T will stand before fond memory's eye.
The boatman calls! go hence in peace!
God bless ye,
man and wife and sire!
Bless all your fields with rich
increase,
And crown each true heart's pure desire! |
By Ferdinand Freiligrath�(1810�1876)
Listed March 21, 2014 |
|
Poem Use Permission Request
USA Patriotism! cannot
provide use permission for a poem or an author's email address
if not listed below the poem. Only the author or a legal
representative can grant permission. Try a search engine to find the
author's contact information for a use permission request or if
it is available for public use.
Note: Poems authored in the
1700s and 1800s can be used with reference to the author. |
Comment on this poem |
|
| | |
|
| Country and Flag Poems | Poem Categories |
|
