Poems by Heinrich Heine

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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To Edom!

WITH each other, brother fashion,

Have we borne this many an age.

Thou hast borne with my existence,

And I borne have with thy rage.

Many a time, in days of darkness,

Wonder-strange hath been thy mood,

And thy dear and pious talons

Hast thou reddened in my blood.

121

Heinrich Heine

Of Pearls And Stars

The pearly treasures of the sea,

The lights that spatter heaven above,

More precious than these wonders are

My heart-of-hearts filled with your love.

The ocean's power, the heavenly sights

Cannot outweigh a love filled heart.

And sparkling stars or glowing pearls

Pale as love flashes, beams and darts.

107

Heinrich Heine

Still Ist Die Nacht

The night is so still, the streets are at rest,

This is the house that my love graced,

This is the town she’s long since left,

But the house is here in the selfsame place.

A man’s there too, who stands and stares,

And wrings his hands, in violent pain:

When I see his look it makes me scared –

The moonlight shows my face again.

136

Heinrich Heine

Ich Weiss Nicht, Was Soll Es Bedeuten

I don’t know what it could mean,

Or why I’m so sad: I find,

A fairy-tale, from times unseen,

Won’t vanish from my mind.

The air is cool and it darkens,

And quiet flows the Rhine:

The tops of the mountains sparkle,

In evening’s after-shine.

170

Heinrich Heine

Meergruß

Thalatta! Thalatta!

Sei mir gegrüßt, du ewiges Meer!

Sei mir gegrüßt zehntausendmal,

Aus jauchzendem Herzen,

Wie einst dich begrüßten

Zehntausend Griechenherzen,

Unglückbekämpfende, heimatverlangende,

Weltberühmte Griechenherzen.

250

Heinrich Heine

This Mad Carnival Of Loving

This mad carnival of loving,

This wild orgy of the flesh,

Ends at last and we two, sobered,

Look at one another, yawning.

Emptied the inflaming cup

That was filled with sensuous potions,

Foaming, almost running over--

191

Heinrich Heine

Einst Sah Ich Viele

I saw a crowd of flowers in bloom,

On my way: too lazy of course

To stir myself and pick them too,

I rode on by, on my proud horse.

Now, when I’m wretched and I’m dying,

Now, when my grave’s already aired,

Often in memory, painful, mocking,

The scent of flowers I scorned is there.

150

Heinrich Heine

Sie Liebten Sich Beide

They loved each other, but neither

Would admit to the other they could:

As enemies, they saw each other,

And almost died of their love.

In the end they parted and only

Saw each other sometimes in dreams:

It was long ago they had died,

But they scarcely knew it, it seems.

186

Heinrich Heine

The North Sea -- Second Cycle

Greeting to the Sea

Thalatta! Thalatta!

I hail thee, O Sea, thou Ancient of Days!

I hail thee, O Sea, ten thousand times

With jubilant heart,

Of yore as once hailed thee

Those Grecian hearts ten thousand,

161

Heinrich Heine

The North Sea -- First Cycle

l Coronation

Ho, songs! My own good songs and trusty!

Up, up! and don your arms!

Let blow the merry bugles,

And lift upon my shield

This fair young Maiden,

Who now alone shall rule

O'er all my heart as rightful Queen.

172

Heinrich Heine

Morphine

There’s a mirror likeness between the two

Bright, youthfully-shaped figures, though

One’s paler than the other and more austere,

I might even say more perfect, more distinguished,

Than the one who’d take me confidingly in his arms –

How soft then, loving, his smile, how blessed his glance!

Then it might well have been, that his wreath

Of white poppies touched my forehead, at times,

164

Heinrich Heine

New Spring (1831)

Leise zieht dwch mem Gemiit

Soft, aloft, the bells do ring,

Gentlest thoughts they sing me.

Ring and sing, my song of spring,

Through the blue sky wing thee

To the house of budding flowers,

Borne by Echo fleeting.

Shouldst thou chance to see a Rose—

110

Heinrich Heine