''Song of the Mountain Boy''

SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN BOY

Ludwig Uhland

The mountain shepherd-boy am I;
The castles all below me spy.
The sun sends me his earliest beam,
Leaves me his latest, lingering gleam.
      I am the boy of the mountain!

The mountain torrent's home is here,
Fresh from the rock I drink it clear;
As out it leaps with furious force,
I stretch my arms and stop its course.
      I am the boy of the mountain!

I claim the mountain for my own;
In vain the winds around me moan;
From north to south let tempests brawl--
My song shall swell above them all.
      I am the boy of the mountain!

Thunder and lightning below me lie,
Yet here I stand in upper sky;
I know them well, and cry, "Harm not
My father's lowly, peaceful cot."
      I am the boy of the mountain!

But when I hear the alarm-bell sound,
When watch-fires gleam from the mountains round,
Then down I go and march along,
And swing my sword, and sing my song.
      I am the boy of the mountain!

1806


-trans. C.T. Brooks
-German title: Des knaben Berglied.

(Illustration is Carl Gustav Carus, Montblanc, 1824.)