The Journey

Suevia, my mother, happy land! You also are like your more shining sister Lombardy over there Flowed through by a hundred streams And trees in plenty, white with blossom or reddish And the darker, deep, full green, the wild trees And the Alps of Switzerland overshadow you too, Neighbourly; for near the hearth of the house Is where you live and you can hear Inside from silvery vessels The spring rushing that issues From pure hands when touched By warm rays Crystal ice and tipped over By the lightly quickening light The snowy summit drenches the earth With purest water. For that reason You are born loyal. Hard Living near the source to quit the place. And your children, the towns On the long lake in the haze On the willowy Neckar and on the Rhine All think Nowhere would be better to live.