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Friedrich Holderlin - The Neckar
Work rating: Medium

My heart awakened to life in your valleys,
   Your waves played around me.
      And all of the fair hills that know you,
         Wayfarer, are known to me as well.

On those peaks the winds from the sky
   Relieved me from pains of bondage,
      And silver-blue waves shone forth from the valley,
         Like the joy of life pouring out from a chalice.

Mountain springs hurried down to you,
   My heart with them, and you took us along
      To the quietly splendid Rhine, down
         To its cities and pleasant islands.

The world seems to me yet beautiful, and my eyes
   Search out with desire the charms of the earth,
      To golden Paktolos, to Smyrna`s shores,
          To Ilion`s woods.  How I`d like to

Go ashore at Sunium, and ask for the silent road
   To your pillars, Olympia!  Before age
      And storm winds bury you as well
         In the ruins of Athens` temples,

Along with the statues of its gods.  For you
   Have long stood alone, pride of a world
      That no longer exists.  And the beautiful
         Islands of Ionia, where sea air

Cools the hot shores and rushes through the woods
   Of laurel, when the sun warms the grapevines,
      And, oh, where golden autumn changes
         The sighs of the poor people into songs,

When the pomegranate ripens, when the orange trees
   Nod in a green night, and the gum trees drip
      Resin, and drums and cymbals resound
         To labyrinthine dances.

Perhaps someday my guardian deity will bring me 
    To these islands, but even then my thoughts 
      Would remain loyal to the Neckar
         With its lovely meadows and pastoral shores.
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