Page:Masterpieces of German literature volume 7.djvu/508

444 High on a peg above the rest

A hank of rope-yarn limply dangles

Like rotted hair, and in the tangles

The swallow built her last year's nest.

An old dog-collar set with bells

Swings from a hook by clasp and tether,

With rude embroidery that spells

"Diana" worked upon the leather.

A flute too, when the woodsman died,

The men who dug his grave forgot here ;

The dog, his only friend, they shot here

And laid her by her master's side.

But while I sit in reverie,

A field-mouse near me shrilly crying,

The squirrel barking from his tree,

And from the marsh the frogs replying—

Then eerie shudders o'er me shoot,

As if I caught from out the dingle

Diana's bells once more a-jingle

And echoes of the dead man's flute.