Charlemagne and The Bridge of Moonbeams

Beauteous is it in the summer-night, and calm
along the Rhine,
And like molten silver shines the light that sleeps on
wave and vine.
Put a stately figure standetli on the silent hill alone,
Like the phantom of a monarch looking vainly for his
throne!

Yes! — 't is he, —the unforgotten lord of this beloved
land!
'T is the glorious Car'lus Magnus, with his gleamy
sword in hand,
And his crown enwreathed with myrtle, and his golden
sceptre bright,
And his rich imperial purple vesture floating on the
night!

Since he dwelled among his people stormy centuries
have rolled.
Thrones and kingdoms have departed, and the world is
waxing old:
Why leaveth he his house of rest? Wliy cometh he
once more
From his marble tomb to wander here by Langewinkel's
shore?

0, fear ye not the emperor! — he doth not leave his
tomb
As the herald of disaster to our land of blight and bloom;
He cometh not with blight or ban on castle, field, or
shrine.
But with overflowing blessings for the vineyards of the
Rhine!

As a bridge across the river lie the moonbeams all the
time,
They shine from Langewinkel unto ancient Ingelheim;
And along this Bridge of Moonbeams is the monarch
seen to go,
And from thence he pours his blessings on the royal
flood below.

He blesses all the vineyards, he blesses vale and plain,
The lakes and glades and orchards, and fields of golden
grain,
The lofty castle-turrets and the lowly cottage-hearth;
He blesses all, fur over all he reigned of yore ou earth;

Then to each and all so lovingly he waves a mute
farewell,
And returns to slumber softly in his tomb at La Cliapelle,
Till the summer-time be come again, with sun and
rain and dew,
And the vineyards and the gardens woo him back to
them anew.