Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Rhine, the River

The German Rhine

By Nicolaus Becker (1810–1845)

Translated by H. W. Dulcken

NO, no, they shall not have him,

Our free-born German Rhine,

Though, like the famished raven,

They, croaking, for it pine!

So long in verdant vesture

He peacefully doth glide,

So long a plashing boat-oar

Shall cleave his rippling tide!

No, no, they shall not have him,

Our free-born German Rhine,

So long there still refresheth

Our heart his fiery wine;

So long the mountains firmly

Shall stand from out his stream,

So long a lofty steeple

Shall from his mirror beam!

No, no, they shall not have him,

Our free-born German Rhine,

While free men and fair maidens

Shall seek the marriage shrine;

So long beneath his waters

A single fish there dives,

So long among his singers

A single lay there lives.

No, no, they shall not have him,

Our free-born German Rhine,

Till, buried ’neath his waters,

The latest man hath lien!