THE FERRY.
Many years have passed for ever
Since I came across the river;
Here’s the tower, in evening’s blushing,
There, as erst, the weir is rushing.
Then with me the boat did carry
Two companions o’er the ferry,
One a friend, a father seeming,
One a youth with high hopes beaming.
That one lived a peaceful story,
And is gone in peace to glory;
This, of all most fiery-hearted,
Hath in fight and storm departed.
So when I, mid blessing cherished,
Dare to think on seasons perished,
Must I still to sorrow waken,
Missing friends that Death hath taken.
Friendship may not be united,
Save when soul to soul is plighted:
Full of soul those hours went by me,
Still to souls a bond doth tie me.
Ferryman, I gladly proffer
Thrice the fare that others offer,
Since two spirits thou didst carry
At my side across the ferry.
Longfellow, in his ‘Hyperion,’ has beautifully rendered the spirit of this poem, if he has somewhat missed its cadence.
The fine elegy on the death of Tell belongs to Uhland’s ‘Songs of Freedom,’ Tell’s death is undemonstrative, and he characteristically comes by it, by rescuing a child from a torrent. ‘The Sunken Crown’ stands before it in the collection, probably by way of introduction:—