Joseph Victor von Scheffel

“ Oh Roman girl, why lookest thou
At me with burning glances?
Thine eye, though beautiful it be,
The stranger ne'er entrances.
Beyond the Alps there is a grave,
The Rhine watch o'er it keepeth;
And three wild roses bloom thereon;
Therein my love-dream sleepeth.
Oh Roman girl, why lookest thou
At me with burning glances?
Thine eye, though beautiful it be,
The stranger ne'er entrances.
VI.
Outside the gates when walking,
I see of life no trace;
There is the wide-spread graveyard
Of the ancient Roman race.
They rest from love and hatred,
From pleasure, strife, and guilt ”

“ That the poor cat Hiddigeigei's
Long black hair stood up like bristles,
Like the sharp quills of a hedgehog.
Raising then his paw to cover
His offended ear, he spoke thus:
"Suffer on, my valiant cat-heart,
Which so much has borne already,
Also bear this maiden's music!
We, we understand the laws well,
Which do regulate and govern
Sound, enigma of creation.
And we know the charm mysterious
Which invisibly through space floats,
And, intangible a phantom,
Penetrates our hearing organs,
And in beasts' as well as men's hearts
Wakes up love, delight and longing,
Raving madness and wild frenzy. ”

“ War raged in our German country,"
Said the Baron. "'Tis a famous
Choice old wine which grew at Grenzach.
Brightly in the glass it sparkles,
Like pure gold its colour shineth,
And a fragrance rises from it
Like the finest greenhouse flowers.
Master Trumpeter, ring glasses!"
Loudly then rang both their goblets.
Emptying his, the Baron spun out
Farther still the conversation.
"My young friend, you know, as long as
This world lasts, there will be people
Who are fond of hobby-horses.
Some are mystics and ascetics,
Others love old wine or brandy. ”

“ Along the Rhine and Neckar,
No town like thee is found.
Thou town of merry fellows,
Of wisdom full and wine,
Clear flows thy placid river,
Blue eyes therein do shine.
When from the south is spreading
Spring's smile o'er hill and lea,
He out of blossoms weaveth
A bridal robe for thee.
Thee as a bride I fondly
Enshrine within my heart;
Like early love's sweet echoes,
Thy name doth joy impart.
Become life's cares too burning,
And all abroad looks bare,
I'll spur my good horse homeward
To the Neckar vale so fair. ”

“ Hiddigeigei with great ardour
Makes the mice-hunt his chief duty;
And he frets not if another
With sweet music worships beauty.
Quoth the wise cat Hiddigeigei:
Ere it rots, the fruit be plucking;
So, if years should come of famine,
Memory's paws remain for sucking.
X.
Even a God-fearing conduct,
Cannot keep us from declining;
With despair I see already
In my fur some gray hairs shining.
Yes, unpitying Time destroyeth
All for which we've boldly striven;
For against the sharp-toothed tyrant
Nature has no weapons given.
Unadmired and forgotten
We fall victims to this power. ”

“ An old tavern; Fridolinus,
When he first upon the island
Set his foot, had there sought shelter;
But the landlord, a rude heathen,
Spoke unto the holy man thus:
"All you priests are good for nothing,
But to vilify our old gods;
And you seldom carry even
One red farthing in your pocket.
So begone from off my threshold!"
Now the purse of Fridolinus
Had indeed but little in it,
And he had to take his night's rest
Underneath the shady lindens
In the meadow. But the angels
Cared well for him, and he found out,
On awaking, that his purse was
Filled with golden Roman pieces. ”

“ With lovers on the Rhine?
XI.
A settled life I did despise,
And so to wandering took;
When soon I found, to my surprise,
A comfortable nook.
But as I lay in rest's soft lap,
And hoped for long repose,
There broke o'er me a thunder-clap,
My stay came to a close.
Each year a different plant I see
Spring up, with beauty clad;
A fool's mad dance this world would be,
If 'twere not quite so sad.
XII.
To life belongs a most unpleasant feature:
That not a rose without sharp thorns doth grow,
Much as love's yearning stirs our human nature,
Through pangs of parting we at last must go. ”

“ They are good but wooden people,
Not so witty nor as clever.
Wooden are they, thinking solely
Of the moment, hollow hearted;
Only few still hold as sacred
The bequests of the departed.
But sometime, when years have passed by,
In my grave I've long been sleeping,
Then will come the angry cat's howl
Nightly down upon you sweeping.
Hiddigeigei's solemn warning
Will you from your slumber waken:
Ever fear the coils of dulness!
Save yourselves, ye God-forsaken!
SONGS OF THE SILENT MAN. FROM THE CAVE OF THE GNOMES.
I.
Quiet heart! O ponder lonely,
Valiant, by no fears assailed ”

“ Lay the worthy Hiddigeigei;
And with great amazement saw he,
How his mistress and young Werner
Were each other fondly kissing.
Grumbling said he to himself then:
"Often have I meditated
On great problems hard to settle,
Which my cat-heart fully fathomed;
But there's one which yet remaineth
Quite unsolved, uncomprehended:
Why do people kiss each other?
Not from hatred, not from hunger,
Else they'd bite and eat each other;
Neither can it be an aimless
Nonsense, for they are in general
Wise, and know well what they're doing.
Why then is it, I ask vainly,
Why do people kiss each other? ”

“ And honest folk dwell 'neath their thatched roof's shadow.
And yet--should I now try new songs to sing,
The old accustomed tone I could not find;
Too often grief my soul with pangs doth wring,
Instead of mirth, scorn filleth now my mind.
The world serves idols now, the good ignoring,
And truth is silent, beauty hides her face;
What is unnatural men are adoring,
God is forgotten. Mammon takes his place!
The Poet, now, should be a prophet warning,
Like those of old, reproving, praying, mourning!
'Tis not my sphere; a mighty stirring song
Requires another man, a different art ”

“ Also gathered for the May-wine
The white-blooming fragrant woodroof.
Which rejoiced at being broken
By such tender hands, and thought thus:
"Sweet it was in these dark pine-woods,
To be blooming, 'mid the rocks here,
But still sweeter in the May-time
'Tis to die, and with the last breath
Highly then to spice the May-wine
For the joy of human beings.
Death in general is corruption,
But the woodroof's death is like that
Of the morning-dew on blossoms,
Sweetly, without sighs, exhaling." ”

“ I wander sad alone.
Good luck will never favour
The man who nothing dares;
But he who does not waver
The smile of fortune shares.
II.
A lonely rock juts upward
Just by the craggy strand;
The angry foaming waters
Have torn it from the land.
Now in green waves half sunken
Defiantly it lies;
The snow-white gulls are flying
Around it with shrill cries.
There on the heaving billows
Is dancing a light boat;
The sounds of plaintive singing
Up to the lone rock float:
"O that I to my country,
And to my love were borne;
O home in dear old Rhine-land,
For thee my heart is torn!" ”

“ Wildly past old sober Basel,
Get quite tired of the tedious
Old town-councillors, and ruin
Now and then a wall in passing.
And they think, it was in anger,
What was only done in frolic.
Yes, I love her. Many other
Charming women much pursue me;
None, however,--e'en the stately,
Richly vine-clad, blue-eyed Mosel--
Ever from my heart can banish
Thee, the Feldberg's lovely daughter. ”

“ To the isle of Fridolinus,
She the old and stubborn grandam;
And she said: "No new gods need I,
As my life is fast declining.
I'm contented with the old ones,
Who to me are kind and gracious,
Who once gave me my dear husband--
My good, noble Siegebert.
When'er Death from here should take me,
I could never hope to find him;
And for him my heart is yearning.
In the woods I must be buried,
Where the mandrake grows 'neath fir-trees
Which with mistletoe are covered.
I don't wish a cross on my grave,
Shall not envy it to others." ”

“ Hiddigeigei then did open his eyes,
Left off his pining and yearning;
The world henceforth he learned to despise,
To his inner self earnestly turning.
VI.
Lovely month of May, how hateful
To a cat you are, and dreary
Ne'er I thought such din of music
Could a cat's heart make so weary.
From the branches, from the bushes
Birds their warbling notes are ringing;
Far and wide, as if for money,
Men I hear forever singing.
There the cook sings in the kitchen--
Is love also her head turning? ”

“ Which a poor cat's heart is rending.
V.
Hiddigeigei often has raved with delight,
The true, good, and beautiful seeking;
Hiddigeigei often felt grief's deadly blight,
And with tender sad yearnings was weeping.
Hiddigeigei once has felt his heart glow,
When the fairest of cats he was wooing;
And just as a troubadour's love-songs flow,
Rang nightly his spirited mewing.
Hiddigeigei many a valiant fight,
Like the Paladin Roland, was waging;
But men have often belaboured his hide,
And with dropping hot pitch made him raging. ”

“ Builds up proud and airy castles;
But like owls and bats are flying
All around them hosts of doubts which
Drive away all hope and courage.
From the tower-clock struck midnight.
On his couch was lying sleepless
Werner in the turret-chamber;
Through the window beaming faintly
Fell a narrow ray of moonlight,
While beneath the Rhine did rush.
And the sleepless brain of Werner
Is by dream-like visions haunted.
Once it seemed to him like Sunday;
Bells are pealing, horses neighing,
Toward the Schwarzwald goes a wedding,
He walks at the head as bridegroom,
By his side is Margaretta ”

“ Much too martial--nor a soldier
Either, as he looks too modest;
He may be a necromancer,
An adept in all dark witchcraft,
Alchemy, and other black arts.
Wait, I'll catch thee;" and he turned their
Talk to hidden buried treasures,
And to midnight exorcisms.
"Yes, my friend, here near the city
Lies a sandbank in the river.
At the time of Fridolinus
Heaps of gold coin there were buried.
One who knows, a clever fellow,
Could there dig and make his fortune."
"I already saw the sandbank,"
Said young Werner, "when I rowed there
On the Rhine last night by moonlight." ”

“ When the wind and weather change.
Coming storms, when brewing, ever
My keen senses do betray;
And the atmosphere was never
Sultry as it is to-day.
"Doubly thus I feel this parting,
But thy course must onward lead;
Take my blessing, song, on starting,
And the cat's well-meant good speed!
The green Rhine, the Schwarzwald breezes,
Bring with them health, peace, and rest ”

“ Smiling then to him the Rhine said:
"Have no fear, my dear young dreamer,
For I know where thy shoe pinches.
Ye are strange and odd, ye mortals;
Ye believe ye bear a secret
Through the world in lonely musing,
And each chafer understands it;
E'en the gnats and the mosquitoes
See it on your heated foreheads,
See it in your tearful glances,
That Love holds you in his meshes.
Have no fear, I know what love is;
I have heard upon my journeys
Many false and many true vows
Whispered in Romansh and German,
Also in the Low Dutch language
(In the last oft most insipid) . ”

“ Is the gray gnomes' daily labour
In the bowels of the earth.
Formerly they used to know us;
Wise and clever men and women,
Grave old priests descended to us
In the depths, where to our labour
They oft listened, and they spoke thus:
"In the caves the gods are dwelling."
But you have become estranged since;
Still, we willingly will open
To your gaze our hidden treasures;
And we hold in great affection
All the travelling German scholars;
For their hearts are kind and generous,
And they see much more than others.
You seem also one, so follow!
Here my cave is, in this valley ”

“ Then Säkkingen, the fair Black Forest's treasure,
Which found at first in thee not much delight,
Has by degrees derived from thee great pleasure,
And to her heart with love has pressed thee tight.
Upon the whole, success outweighs detraction,
And thou canst view thy fate with satisfaction. ”

“ Clear as glass the Rhine's green waters.
On the mountains snow is melting,
In the valleys blossom fruit trees,
May begins his reign at last.
In the path before the hall door
Hiddigeigei took his comfort,
Caring only that the sun's rays
On his fur should fall and warm him. ”

“ Up in the Elector's Castle,
By our age's greatest marvel
Which the German mind has wrought out,
By the tun of Heidelberg.
A most worthy hermit dwelt there,
Who was the Elector's court fool,
Was my dear old friend Perkéo;
Who had out of life's wild whirlpool
Peacefully withdrawn himself where
He could meditate while drinking,
And the cellar was his refuge.
Here he lived, his care dividing
'Twixt himself and the big wine-tun;
And he loved it--truer friendship
Never has the world yet witnessed ”

“ To the Rhine came Hiddigeigei.
A true house-pet, somewhat lonesome
Did he while away his life there;
For, he hated to consort with
Any of the German cat-tribe.
"They may have," thus he was thinking
In his consequential cat-pride,
"Right good hearts, and may possess too
At the bottom some good feeling,
But 'tis polish that is wanting;
A fine culture and high breeding,
I miss sorely in these vulgar
Natives of this forest-city. ”

“ On the Rhine-shore for the first time.
'Twas amusing to young Werner
How just then the old stork gravely,
On the sand with stealthy cunning,
Closely a poor eel was watching,
Who of various worms was making
There a comfortable meal.
He, however, who was wielding
O'er the little worms the strand-law,
Soon himself will serve as breakfast.
For the greater eats the lesser,
And the greatest eats the great ones. ”

“ Inscribed on a rock this meets mine eyes:
"Säkkingen, the town, to her Poet!"
And now, as by Bally's castle I stand,
There my Trumpeter also stands blowing,
Cast finely in bronze by a master's hand.
That they know us well here all are showing;
For, when I was going to pay at the inn,
The kind hostess refused quite indignant.
'Tis clear, in the town of St. Fridolin,
O'er us a bright star shines benignant. ”

“ Are the legs of the illustrious
Fresco-painter Fludribus,
Who returning from Italia
Had been living in the Rhine-land.
He was pleased with the fair country,
And the rosy happy faces,
And the cellars full of wine.
All the people wondered at him
As they would at an enchanter ”