"The lightsome air of France became
So heavy, I dared not trifle.
I felt I must fill my lungs again
With German air, or stifle.

dt text .

• note.

•

•

"I longed for the smell of German peat,
And rooms tobacco-sodden;
My quivering foot could not rest until
Its native soil was trodden..

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"Awake at nights I would yearn and long
Once more to see and hear her—
The dear old woman who lives beside
The Dammthor, with Lotte near her.

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"For the noble old man I also yearned
Who chid my youthful blindness,
Yet sheltered and shielded me. Many a sigh
Has since repaid his kindness!.

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"I wanted to hear his lips again
With their 'foolish lad!' reprove me;
The words used to echo through my heart,
And like sweetest music move me.

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"I longed to see the blue smoke rise
From the chimneys, and hear the singing
Of the Lower-Saxony nightingales
In the quiet beech-woods ringing.

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"I even longed for the spots made sad
By olden woes and losses,
Where once I wore my thorny crowns,
And dragged my youthful crosses.

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"I wished to weep where I had wept
Youth's bitter tears so burning.
I think that love of Fatherland
They call this foolish yearning.

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"I find it hard to talk of the thing;
'Tis an illness, there's no denying,
And I always hide with a curious shame
My wounds from public prying.

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"I loathe the tatterdemalion crew—
I confess my pity freezes—
Who in public expose their patriotism,
With its ulcerous diseases.

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"An impudent, scabby, beggarly lot,
They importune for charity.
For Menzel and his Swabian school,
A penn'orth of popularity!

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"You have found me in a melting mood,
My goddess! 'Twill soon be over;
I am hardly myself, but I trust with care
Before long to recover.

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• x

"Yes, to-night I am certainly ailing a bit—
Am distinctly under the weather.
You could pick me up with a cup of tea—
And rum—they go well together.

dt text .