Bürger's “Lenore”

(from the German)

by



Gabriel Charles Rossetti

(aged 16.)

   

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• Up rose Lenore as the red morn wore
• From weary visions starting;
• “Art faithless, William, or, William,
• art dead?
• 'Tis long since thy departing.”
• For he, with Frederick's men of might,
• In fair Prague waged the uncertain fight;
• Nor once had he writ in the hurry of war,
• And sad was the true heart that sick-
• -ened afar.

• The Empress and the King,
• 10With ceaseless quarrel tired,
• At length relaxed the stubborn hate
• Which rivalry inspired:
• And the martial throng, with laugh
• and song,
page: 2  
• Spoke of their homes as they rode along,
• And clank, clank, clank! came every
• rank,
• With the trumpet-sound that rose
• and sank.

• And here and there and everywhere,
• Along the swarming ways,
• Went old man and boy, with the
• music of joy,
• 20On the gallant bands to gaze;
• And the young child shouted to spy
• the vaward,
• And trembling and blushing the
• bride pressed forward:
• But ah! for the sweet lips of Lenore
• The kiss and the greeting are vanished
• and o'er.

• From man to man all wildly she
• ran,
• With a swift and searching eye;
• But she felt alone in the mighty
• mass,
• As it crushed and crowded by:
• On hurried the troop, —a gladsome group,—
• 30And proudly the tall plumes wave and droop:
• She tore her hair and she turned her round,
• And madly she dashed her against the
• ground.

• Her mother clasped her tenderly,
• With soothing words and mild:
• “My child, may God look down on thee,—
• God comfort thee, my child.”
• “Oh! mother, mother! gone is gone!
• I reck no more how the world runs on:
• What pity to me does God impart?
• 40Woe, woe, woe! for my heavy heart!”

• “Help, Heaven, help and favour her!
• Child, utter an Ave Marie!
• Wise and great are the doings of God;
• He loves and pities thee.”
• “Out, mother, out, on the empty lie!
• Doth he heed my despair, —doth he list
• to my cry?
• What boots it now to hope or to pray?
• The night is come,— there is no more
• day.”

• “Help, Heaven, help! who knows the
• Father
• 50Knows surely that he loves his child:
• The bread and the wine from the hand
• divine
• Shall make thy tempered grief less
• wild.”
• “Oh! mother, dear mother! the wine
• and the bread
  page: 4  
• Will not soften the anguish that bows
• down my head;
• For bread and for wine it will yet be
• as late
• That his cold corpse creeps from the
• grim grave's gate.”

• “What if the traitor's false faith failed,
• By sweet temptation tried,—
• What if in distant Hungary
• 60He clasp another bride?—
• Despise the fickle fool, my girl,
• Who hath ta'en the pebble and spurned
• the pearl:
• While soul and body shall hold
• together
• In his perjured heart shall be stormy
• weather.”

• “Oh! mother, mother! gone is gone,
• And lost will still be lost!
• Death, death is the goal of my weary
• soul,
• Crushed and broken and crost.
• Spark of my life! down, down to the tomb:
• 70Die away in the night, die away in the gloom!
• What pity to me does God impart?
• Woe, woe, woe! for my heavy heart!”

• “Help, Heaven, help, and heed her not,
• For her sorrows are strong within;
• She knows not the words that her tongue
• repeats,—
• Oh! count them not for sin!
• Cease, cease, my child, thy wretchedness,
• And think on the promised happiness;
• So shall thy mind's calm ecstasy
• 80Be a hope and a home and a bridegroom
• to thee.”

• “My mother, what is happiness?
• My mother, what is Hell?
• With William is my happiness,—
• Without him is my Hell!
• Spark of my life! down, down to the tomb:
• Die away in the night, die away in the gloom!
• Earth and Heaven, and Heaven and earth,
• Reft of William are nothing worth.”

• Thus grief racked and tore the breast of Lenore,
• 90And was busy at her brain;
• Thus rose her cry to the Power on high,
• To question and arraign:
• Wringing her hands and beating her breast,—
• Tossing and rocking without any rest;—
• Till from her light veil the moon shone
• thro',
• And the stars leapt out on the dark-
• -ling blue.

• But hark to the clatter and the pat pat patter!
• Of a horse's heavy hoof!
• How the steel clanks and rings as the
• rider springs!
• 100How the echo shouts aloof!
• While slightly and lightly the gentle bell
• Tingles and jingles softly and well;
• And low and clear through the door
• plank thin
• Comes the voice without to the ear
• within:

• “Holla! holla! unlock the gate;
• Art waking, my bride, or sleeping?
• Is thy heart still free and faith-
• -ful to me?
• Art laughing, my bride, or weeping?”
• “Oh! wearily, William, I've waited for
• you,—
• 110Woefully watching all the long day thro',—
• With a great sorrow sorrowing
• For the cruelty of your tarrying."

• “Till the dead midnight we saddled not,—
• I have journeyed far and fast—
• And hither I come to carry thee back
• Ere the darkness shall be past.”
• “Ah! rest thee within till the night's more
• calm;
• Smooth shall thy couch be, and soft, and
• warm:
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• Hark to the winds, how they whistle and
• rush
• 120Thro' the twisted twine of the hawthorn-
• bush.“

• “Thro' the hawthorn-bush let whistle
• and rush,—
• Let whistle, child, let whistle!
• Mark the flash fierce and high of my
• steed's bright eye,
• And his proud crest's eager bristle.
• Up, up and away! I must-not-stay:
• Mount swiftly behind me! up, up and
• away!
• An hundred miles must be ridden and
• sped
• Ere we may lie down in the bridal-bed.”

• “What! ride an hundred miles to-night,
• 130By thy mad fancies driven!
• Dost hear the bell with its sullen swell,
• As it rumbles out eleven?”
• “Look forth! look forth! the moon shines
• bright:
• We and the dead gallop fast thro' the night.
• 'Tis for a wager I bear thee away
• To the nuptial couch ere break of day.”

• “Ah! where is the chamber, William dear,
• And William, where is the bed?”
• “Far, far from here: still, narrow,
• and cool;
• 140Plank and bottom and lid.”
• “Hast room for me?”-- “For me and thee;
  page: 8  
• Up, up to the saddle right speedily!
• The wedding-guests are gathered and met,
• And the door of the chamber is open set.”

• She busked her well, and into the selle
• She sprang with nimble haste,—
• And gently smiling with a quick be-
• -guiling,
• Her white hands clasped his waist:—
• And hurry, hurry! ring, ring, ring!
• 150To and fro they sway and swing;
• Snorting and snuffing they skim the ground,
• And the sparks spurt up, and the stones
• run round.

• Here to the right and there to left
• Flew fields of corn and clover,
• And the bridges flashed by to the dazzled eye,
• As rattling they thundered over.
• “What ails my love? the moon shines bright:
• Bravely the dead men ride through the night.
• Is my love afraid of the quiet dead?”
• 160“Ah! no;—let them sleep in their dusty
• bed!”

• On the breeze cool and soft what tune floats
• aloft,
• While the crows wheel overhead?—
• Ding dong! ding dong! 'tis the sound, 'tis
• the song,—
• “Room, room for the passing dead!”
• Slowly the funeral-train drew near,
• Bearing the coffin, bearing the bier;
  page: 9  
• And the chime of the chaunt was hiss-
• -sing and harsh,
• Like the note of the bull-frog within the
• marsh.

• “You bury your corpse at the dark mid-
• -night,
• 170With hymns and bells and wailing;—
• But I bring home my youthful wife
• To a bride-feast's rich regaling.
• Come, chorister, come with thy choral throng,
• And solemnly sing me a marriage-song;
• Come, friar come,— let the blessing be spoken,
• That the bride and the bridegroom's sweet-
• rest be unbroken.”

• Died the dirge and vanished the bier:—
• Obedient to his call,
• Hard hard behind, with a rush like the wind,
• 180Came the long steps' pattering fall:
• And ever further! ring, ring, ring!
• To and fro they sway and swing;
• Snorting and snuffing they skim the ground,
• And the sparks spurt up, and the stones
• run round.

• How flew to the right, how flew to the left,
• Trees, mountains in the race!
• How to the left, and the right and the
• left
• Flew town and market-place!
• “What ails my love? the moon shines
• bright:
• 190Bravely the dead men ride thro' the night.
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• Is my love afraid of the quiet dead?”
• “Ah! let them alone in their dusty bed!”

• See, see, see! by the gallows-tree,
• As they dance on the wheels' broad hoop,
• Up and down in the gleam of the moon
• Half lost, an airy group:—
• “Ho! ho! mad mob, come hither amain,
• And join in the wake of my rushing train;—
• Come, dance me a dance, ye dancers thin,
• 200Ere the planks of the marriage-bed close
• us in.”

• And hush, hush, hush! the dreamy rout
• Came close with a ghastly bustle
• Like the whirlwind in the hazel-bush,
• When it makes the dry leaves rustle:
• And faster, faster! ring, ring, ring!
• To and fro they sway and swing!
• Snorting and snuffing they skim the ground,
• And the sparks spurt-up, and the stones
• run round.

• How flew the moon high overhead,
• 210In the wild race madly driven!
• In and out, how the stars danced about,
• And reeled o'er the flashing heaven!
• “What ails my love! the moon shines
• bright:
• Bravely the dead men ride thro' the night.
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• Is my love afraid of the quiet dead?”
• “Alas! let them sleep in their dusty bed.”

• “Horse, Horse! meseems 'tis the cock's shrill
• note,
• And the sand is well nigh spent;
• Horse, horse, away! 'tis the break of day,—
• 220'Tis the morning air's sweet scent.
• Finished, finished is our ride:
• Room, room for the bridegroom and the
• bride!
• At last, at last we have reached the spot,
• For the speed of the dead man has slack-
• -ened not!”

• And swiftly up to an iron gate
• With reins relaxed they went;
• At the rider's touch the bolts flew back,
• And the bars were broken and bent;
• The doors were burst with a deafening
• knell,
• 230And over the white graves they dashed
• pell mell:
• The tombs around looked grassy and grim,
• As they glimmered and glanced in the moon-
• -light dim.

• But see! but see! in an eyelid's beat,
• To whoo! a ghastly wonder!
• The horseman's jerkin, piece by piece,
• Dropped off like brittle tinder!
page: 12  
• Fleshless and hairless, a naked skull,
• The sight of his weird head was horrible;
• The lifelike mask was there no more,
• 240And a scythe and a sandglass the skeleton
• bore.

• Loud snorted the horse as he plunged and
• reared,
• And the sparks were scattered round:—
• What man shall say if he vanished away,
• Or sank in the gaping ground?
• Groans from the earth and shrieks in
• the air!
• Howling and wailing everywhere!
• Half dead, half living, the soul of Lenore
• Fought as it never had fought before.

• The churchyard troop,— a ghostly group,—
• 250Close round the dying girl;
• Out and in they hurry and spin
• Through the dance's weary whirl:
• “Patience, patience, when the heart is
• breaking;
• With thy God there is no question-making:
• Of thy body thou art quit and free:
• Heaven keep thy soul eternally!”

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