All upon the deck were sitting,
Proudly sailing down the Rhine,
And the shores, in summer verdure,
In the setting sun did shine.
Thoughtfully was I reclining,
Bent before a lovely maid;
In her beauteous, pallid features
Lo, the golden sunlight play’d.
Lutes were sounding, youths were singing,
Wondrous was our joy that day;
And the heavens became still bluer,
And our souls soar’d high away.
Hills and castles, woods and meadows,
Like a vision fleeted by,
And I saw them all reflected
In the lovely maiden’s eye.
43.
In vision saw I my loved one
A worn, sad woman one day;
Her once so-blooming figure
Had wither’d and fallen away.
A child in her arms she carried,
By the hand another she led,
And grief and poverty plainly
In her walk, looks, and garments I read.
Across the market she totter’d,
And then did I meet her eye;
She looked upon me, and gently
I spake to her thus, with a sigh:
“Come with me to my dwelling,
“For thou art pale and ill,
“And food and drink I’ll earn thee
“By industry and skill.
“I’ll also nourish and cherish
“The children that with thee I see;
“But, my child so poor and unhappy,
“I’ll care the most for thee.