Page:Masterpieces of German literature volume 5.djvu/560

 WILHELM HAUFF

CAVALRYMAN'S MORNING SONG (1826)

RIMSON morn,

Shalt thou light me o'er Death's bourn?

Soon will ring the trumpet's call;

Then may I be marked to fall,

I and many a comrade brave!

Scarce enjoyed,

Pleasure drops into the void.

Yesterday on champing stallion ;

Picked today for Death's battalion ;

Couched tomorrow in the grave!

Ah! how soon

Fleeth grace and beauty's noon!

Hast thou pride in cheeks aglow,

Whereon cream and carmine flow?

Ah! the loveliest rose turns sere!

Therefore still

I respond to God's high will.

To the last stern fight I'll fit me;

If to Death I must submit me,

Dies a dauntless cavalier!

THE SENTINEL (1827)

Lonely at night my watch I keep,

While all the world is hush'd in sleep.

Then tow'rd my home my thoughts will rove;

I think upon my distant love.

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