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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAG' MIR WER EINST DIE UHREN ERFUND by HEINRICH HEINE

First Line: WHO WAS IT, TELL ME, THAT FIRST OF MEN RECKON'D
Last Line: (RICHARD GARNETT)
Subject(s): HEARTS; KISSES; LOVE;

WHO was it, tell me, that first of men reckon'd
Time by the hour and the minute and second?
A soulless man, without heart or light,
He sat and he mused in the long winter's night,
And counted the pittering steps of the mouse,
And the pick of the woodworm that gnawed at the house.

Kisses, now tell me, who first did discover?
It was the warm happy mouth of a lover;
He kiss'd without ceasing, he kiss'd without care,
He kiss'd his first kiss in the May-season fair;
The flowers from their emerald cradle upsprang,
The sun brightly beam'd, the birds sweetly sang.

(@3Richard Garnett@1)



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