Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PICTURES OF TRAVEL: THE BALTIC, PART 2: 10. SEA-SICKNESS, by HEINRICH HEINE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PICTURES OF TRAVEL: THE BALTIC, PART 2: 10. SEA-SICKNESS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The dark-grey clouds of the afternoon
Last Line: For thou art terra firma at least!
Subject(s): Sea Voyages; Sickness; Illness


THE dark-grey clouds of the afternoon
Deeper are sinking fast over the sea,
Which darkly seemeth to rise to meet them,
And between them the ship drives on.

Sea-sick sit I unmoved by the mast,
And make observations respecting myself,
Primeval, ash-grey observations,
Which Father Lot of old did make
When he had drunk too much of the grape,
And afterwards found himself amiss.
At times I bethink me of olden stories:
How cross-mark'd pilgrims of olden days
In stormy journeys the comforting image
Religiously kiss'd of the Holy Virgin;
How knights, when sick in such sea-misery,
The darling glove of their worshipp'd mistress
Press'd to their lips and then were comforted --
But I am sitting, and chew with vexation
An ancient herring, the comforter salty
After hard drinking or indigestion!

All this time the ship is fighting
With the furious, heaving flood;
Now like a rearing battle-steed stands it
On its hinder part, so that the rudder cracks;
Now it plunges headforward down again
In the howling abyss of the waters;
Again, as though carelessly love-faint,
Thinks it to lay itself down
On the black breast of the billow gigantic,
Who mightily onward roars,
And sudden, a desolate ocean-waterfall,
In snowy curlings plunges down headlong,
And covers me over with foam.

All this swaying and hov'ring and tossing
Is quite unendurable!
In vain doth my eye keep watch and seek for
The German coast. But, alas, nought but water!
Evermore water, fast-moving water!

As the winter-wanderer at evening
Longs for a comforting warm cup of tea,
So now doth long my heart for thee,
My German Fatherland!
For ever may thy sweet soil be cover'd
With whims and hussars and horrible verses,
And lukewarm slender treatises;
For ever may thy stately zebras
Feed upon roses instead of on thistles;
For ever may thy noble baboons
In idle adornment trick themselves out,
And think themselves better than all the other
Lowminded heavy and lumbering cattle;
For ever may thy assemblage of snails
Look on themselves as immortal,
Because they creep so slowly along,
And may they daily collect men's opinions
Whether the cheesemite belongs to the cheese?
And hold for a long time grave consultations
How the Egyptian sheep to improve,
So that their wool may be better in quality,
And the shepherd may shear them like all other sheep,
Without a distinction --
For evermore may folly and wrong
Cover thee, Germany, utterly!
Still am I yearning for thee,
For thou art terra firma at least!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net