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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FRESCO-SONNETS TO CHRISTIAN S.: 8 by HEINRICH HEINE

First Line: THOU OFT HAST SEEN ME BOLDLY STRIVE WITH THOSE
Last Line: ONCE THERE, WE SLUMBER IN SECURITY.

THOU oft hast seen me boldly strive with those, --
Both spectacled old fop and painted dame, --
Who gladly would destroy my honest name,
And gladly see my last expiring throes.
Thou oft hast seen how pedants round me close,
How fools with cap and bells my life defame,
How poisonous serpents gnaw my sinking frame,
Whilst from a thousand wounds my life-blood flows.
But firm as any tower there stood thy form;
Thy head a lighthouse was amid the storm,
Thy faithful heart a haven was for me;
Though round that haven roars the raging main,
And few the ships the landing place that gain,
Once there, we slumber in security.



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