Just by chance on my journey
I met my beloved’s kin,
Sister and father and mother
Knew me, and welcomed me in.
They asked me how I was faring,
And said, as I entered the place,
That I wasn’t changed a bit, just
A little thin in the face.
I asked after aunts and cousins,
After many a tiresome one,
And asked how their little dog,
With its soft little bark had done.
And I asked about my darling,
Married now, by and by:
They kindly gave me an answer:
In childbed she did lie.
And I offered congratulations,
And murmured lovingly,
To give her a thousand greetings
With all their heart, from me.
Little sister interrupted:
Their dog so sweet and fine,
Had grown quite large and fierce,
And been drowned in the Rhine.
That little one’s like my darling,
Especially when she smiles:
The look that made me miserable:
She has the selfsame eyes.
polite conversation, kind polite words, asking after the one he loved and lost, brilliantly tragically concluded with 'The look that made me miserable: She has the selfsame eyes.' wonderfully concluded, wonderfully written
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Tragedy Selfsame Eyes chance encounters encounters tragic encounters painful encounters masked with polite conversations meeting remembered relatives relatives of lost beloved unrequited love not returned polite conversation kind polite words asking after everyone else asking after the one loved lost brilliantly tragically concluded with looks that made miserable because a sibling has piercing haunting transfixing pain the selfsame eyes Copyright © Terence George Craddock Inspired by the poem 'Als Ich, Auf Der Reise' by the poet Heinrich Heine. Dedicated to the poet Heinrich Heine.