And the gleam on its path as it steals away Their pearly leaves to the soft light spread, They haunt ine!-I dream of that bright spring's flow, Be still, thou sea-bird, with thy clanging cry, Know ye my home, with the lulling sound With the streamy gold of the sun that shines And the fire-fly's glance through the darkening shades, And the scent of the citron at eve's dim fall Speak!-have ye known, have ye felt them all? The heavy-rolling surge,-the rocking mast! Hush!-give my dream's deep music way, thou blast! 70 A VOYAGER'S DREAM OF LAND. Oh! the glad sounds of the joyous earth! The wings flitting home through the crimson glow The voice of the night-bird that sends a thrill To the heart of the leaves when the winds are still- The white foam dashes high-away, away, It is there!-down the mountains I see the sweep And the light pouring through them in tender gleams, To the hills of my youth, where the myrtles blow, To the depths of the woods, where the shadows rest, To the rocks that resound with the water's play I hear the sweet laugh of my fount-give way! Give way!-the booming surge, the tempest's roar, THE GRAVE OF KÖRNER. Charles Theodore Körner, the celebrated young German poet and soldier, was killed in a skirmish with a detachment of French troops, on the 20th of August 1813, a few hours after the composition of his popular piece, "The Sword Song." He was buried at the village of Wöbbelin in Mecklenburg, under a beautiful oak, in a recess of which he had frequently deposited verses composed by him while campaigning in its vicinity. The monument erected to his memory is of cast iron, and the upper part is wrought into a lyre and a sword, a favorite emblem of Körner's, from which one of his works had been entitled. Near the grave of the poet is that of his only sister, who died of grief for his loss, having only survived him long enough to complete his portrait, and a drawing of his burial place. Over the gate of the cemetery is engraved one of his own lines. "Vergiss die treuen Tödten nicht." See Downes's Letters from Mecklenburg, and Körner's Prosaische Aufsätze, von C. A. Tiedge. GREEN wave the oak forever o'er thy rest, Thou that beneath its crowning foliage sleepest, And, in the stillness of thy country's breast, Thy place of memory, as an altar, keepest; Brightly thy spirit o'er her hills was pour'd, Rest, Bard, rest, Soldier !-by the father's hand In the hush'd presence of the glorious dead. The oak wav'd proudly o'er thy burial rite, On thy crown'd bier to slumber warriors bore thee, And with true hearts thy brethren of the fight Wept as they vail'd their drooping banners o'er thee; And the deep guns with rolling peal gave token, That Lyre and Sword were broken. Thou hast a hero's tomb-a lowlier bed Is hers, the gentle girl beside thee lying, *The poems of Körner, which were chiefly devoted to the cause of his country, are strikingly distinguished by religious feelings, and a confidence in the Supreme Justice for the final deliverance of Germany. |