|
Poem for January 2009
• Winter Morning
 Images |
|
|
 On the Web |
|
|
By
by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862)
Thursday,
1 January, 2009
Winter Morning
A cloudy winter morning it was,
As if dawn did not want to break,
And out there in the fog,
A hollow bell had struck.
And soon as that hollow bell --
The only one -- had rung,
I heard the only verse
Of a hoarse grave song being sung.
Just a poor, decrepit man
Who’d long tottered on his staff.
Gloomy, mute as his life --
Such was his way to the grave.
Now he hears in luminous heights
A choir of angels sing;
And all throughout the world,
A lovely and full sound ring.
A translation of "Wintermorgen" by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862)
Ludwig Uhland was a German poet. In 1829 he was made honorary professor of German literature at the University of Tübingen, but he resigned in 1833, when the post was found to be incompatible with his political views. In 1848 he became a member of the Frankfurt Parliament that convened in the course of the 1848 revolution.
One of his best known poems is "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden", which is an integral part of military funerals.
He died on 13 November 1862 in Tübingen. A town located south of Austin, Texas is name in his honour.
The Naked Reader 2009
| 
