I SHOT an arrow into the air, I breathed a song into the air, Long, long afterward, in an oak Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal | The ascending sunbeams mark the day's hand Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land, Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain ! decrease; And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks, Thy voice along the cloister whispers, "Peace! O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how | So love in our hearts shall grow mighty faithless is thy bosom ! To love me in prosperity, O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy bosom ! and strong, Through crosses, through sorrows, through manifold wrong. Shouldst thou be torn from me to wander alone The nightingale, the nightingale, thou In a desolate land where the sun is scarce tak'st for thine example! So long as summer laughs she sings, But in the autumn spreads her wings. The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example ! known, The meadow brook, the meadow brook, Annie of Tharaw, my light and my sun, is mirror of thy falsehood! It flows so long as falls the rain, In drought its springs soon dry again. The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood! ANNIE OF THARAW. FROM THE LOW GERMAN OF SIMON DACH. ANNIE of Tharaw, my true love of old, She is my life, and my goods, and my gold. Annie of Tharaw, her heart once again To me has surrendered in joy and in pain. Annie of Tharaw, my riches, my good, Thou, O my soul, my flesh, and my blood! Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, We will stand by each other, however it blow. The threads of our two lives are woven in one. It is this, O my Annie, my heart's | And the Saviour speaks in mildness: sweetest rest, That makes of us twain but one soul in one breast. This turns to a heaven the hut where we dwell; While wrangling soon changes a home to a hell. "Blest be thou of all the good! Bear, as token of this moment, Marks of blood and holy rood!" And that bird is called the crossbill; |