Lake of the Mountains

Freidrich von Schiller

 

(From William Tell, Act I, Scene I)

Translated by C. T. Brooks

 

FISHER-BOY IN THE BOAT

THERE ’s a smile on the lake,—there ’s a voice from the deep;

The boy on the green shore sank gently to sleep;

            And, hark! a sweet melody

              Steals o’er his rest,

            Like the voices of angels

              In groves of the blest;

And when, fresh and buoyant, from slumber he wakes,

Lo! the wave on his bosom just murmurs and breaks,

            And the billow calls softly:

              “Dear boy, thou art mine!

            Round the peace-loving shepherd

              My fond arms I twine.”

 

HERDSMAN ON THE MOUNTAIN

            Ye meadows, farewell!

              Ye pastures, still shining!

              The summer’s declining,

            And herdsmen must go.

Then away to the mountain!—We ’re coming again,

When the call of the cuckoo is heard on the plain,

When streamlets murmur, and earth is gay,

And blossoms and birds tell of lovely May.

            Ye meadows, farewell!

              Ye pastures, still shining!

              The summer ’s declining,

            And herdsmen must go.

 

ALPINE HUNTER ON AN OPPOSITE CRAG

Mid thundering mountains, on tottering bridge,

Dreads not the bold hunter the perilous ridge.

            O’er ice-fields, undaunted,

              He wanders alone,

            Where blossoms no spring-time,

              Nor green thing is known.

Beneath him the clouds in vast billows roll by,

And the dwellings of men are all hid from his eye,

            Till the clouds yawn asunder;

              Then, glittering in green,

            Far down through the waters

              Gay meadows are seen.