Die alten bösen Lieder
The time has come to bury the angry verse
Dichterliebe A Poet's Love
Heine
The time has come to bury
The angry verse,
The bad, nightmarish dreams;
So, bring me a coffin, bring me a hearse!
I've many things to put in it,
What they are, I'll keep under my hat;
But, you know the great barrel in Heidelberg?
Well, the coffin needs to be bigger than that.
And the hearse will have to be extended
With planks that are thick and strong.
You know the bridge spanning the river at Mainz?
Well, it needs to be equally long.
Then, fetch me a dozen giants,
Each man stronger on his own
Than the great St Christopher
In the cathedral at Cologne.
They shall bear away the coffin
And sink it in the sea.
For such a massive coffin needs
A grave as big as can be.
Now, do you know the reason
Why this coffin is so vast?
I have placed within it all my love
And have buried my pain at last.
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