reens, the mountains grace.
A spicy hay-scent rises from the meadow,
And honest folk dwell 'neath their thatched roof's
shadow.

And yet--should I now try new songs to sing,
The old accustomed tone I could not find;
Too often grief my soul with pangs doth wring,
Instead of mirth, scorn filleth now my mind.
The world serves idols now, the good ignoring,
And truth is silent, beauty hides her face;
What is unnatural men are adoring,
God is forgotten. Mammon takes his place!
The Poet, now, should be a prophet warning,
Like those of old, reproving, praying, mourning!

'Tis not _my_ sphere; a mighty stirring song
Requires another man, a different art;
But though so much prevails that's sad and wrong.
One may not quite disdain a merry heart.
Go forth, my song, then, as thou didst before,
A cheerful memory of life's fresh spring;
Cheer up those hearts, which grief made sad and sore,
And to friends far and near my greeting bring.
Whenever men to nobler aims aspire,
Then higher too will ring the poet's lyre.

Rippoldsau, September, 1858.

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

Hiddigeigei, his opinion:
"Strange, perverse, are all mankind,
Who, when discord holds dominion,
In such ditties pleasure find....
Questions which the world are shaking,
Now the thinker's mind assail,
And no light as yet is breaking,
Which solution shall prevail.

"Yet our song unto perdition
Has not been condemned, I hear--
What a marvel!--an edition
For the third time will appear.
Which in new dress, not inferior
(Of the old nought has been spared),
And, with quite unchanged interior,
For its third trip is prepared.

"I regret that I'm declining,
And I fear I have the mange;
And I show now, by my whining,
When the wind and weather change.
Coming storms, when brewing, ever
My keen senses do betray;
And the atmosphere was never
Sultry as it is to-day.

"Doubly thus I feel this parting,
But thy course must onward lead;
Take my blessing, song, on starting,
And the cat's well-meant good speed!
The green Rhine, the Schwarzwald breezes,
Br