Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE WATCHMAN (ON A RECENT OCCASION), by HEINRICH HEINE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE WATCHMAN (ON A RECENT OCCASION), by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If heart and style remain still true
Last Line: The proper direction in which to be turning.
Subject(s): Germany; Treason & Traitors; Germans


IF heart and style remain still true,
I'll not object, whatever you do.
My friend, I never will mistake you,
E'en though a Counsellor they make you.

They now are raising a terrible din
Because you've been sworn as a Counsellor in;
From the Seine to the Elbe, regardless of reason,
For months they've declaim'd thus against your sad treason:

His progress onward is changed of late
To progress backward; O, answer us straight --
On Swabian crabs are you really riding?
Is't only court-ladies you now take pride in?

Perchance you are tired, and long for rest;
All night on your horn you've been blowing your best
And now on a nail you quietly stow it;
No longer for Germany's hobby you'll blow it.

You lie down in bed, and straightway close
Your eyes, but vainly you seek for repose;
Before the window the mockers salute us:
Awake, Liberator! What! sleeping, Brutus?

Ah, bawlers like these can never know why
The best of watchmen ceases to cry;
These young braggadocios cannot discover
Why man his exertions at length gives over.

You ask me how matters are going on here?
No breeze is stirring, the atmosphere's clear;
The weathercocks all are perplex'd, not discerning
The proper direction in which to be turning.





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