Whither, with so much haste,
As if a thief wert thou?”
“I am the Wave of Life
Stained with my margin’s dust;
From the struggle and the strife
Of the narrow stream I fly
To the sea’s immensity,
To wash me from the slime
Of the muddy banks of Time.”
Translation of H. W. Longfellow. Christoph Tiedge, 1752–1840.