Читать книгу The Greatest German Classics (Vol. 1-14) - Various - Страница 373

Youth, my good friend, you certainly require

When foes in battle round are pressing,

When a fair maid, her heart on fire,

Hangs on your neck with fond caressing,

When from afar, the victor's crown,

To reach the hard-won goal inciteth;

When from the whirling dance, to drown

Your sense, the nights carouse inviteth.

But the familiar chords among

Boldly to sweep, with graceful cunning,

While to its goal, the verse along

Its winding path is sweetly running;

This task is yours, old gentlemen, today;

Nor are you therefore less in reverence held;

Age does not make us childish, as folk say,

It finds us genuine children e'en in eld.