Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE BROKEN RING by JOSEPH VON EICHENDORFF

First Line: DOWN IN A COOL, GREEN VALLEY
Last Line: THEN IT WOULD STAND QUITE STILL.
Subject(s): JEWELRY & JEWELERS; UNFAITHFULNESS; RINGS; BRACELETS; NECKLACES; INFIDELITY; ADULTERY; INCONSTANCY;

Down in a cool, green valley
A millwheel goes all day,
And there my love would dally--
Now she is gone away.

She gave a ring for token
And pledged her faith as true:
Her faith--alas!--is broken,
The ring has burst in two.

I'd be a fiddler strolling,
And wander far from home!
My songs forever trolling,
From door to door I'd roam.

I'd be a rider, flying
Into the bloody fight,
By quiet campfires lying
Upon the field at night.

I hear the millwheel going:
I know not what I will--
I wish I might be dying,
Then it would stand quite still.



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