The Poems of Schiller — First period by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
page 34 of 86 (39%)
page 34 of 86 (39%)
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To the right, to the left, and around and around,
Death whirls in its dance on the bloody ground. God's sunlight is quenched in the fiery fight, Over the hosts falls a brooding night! Brothers, God grant when this life is o'er In the life to come that we meet once more! The dead men lie bathed in the weltering blood And the living are blent in the slippery flood, And the feet, as they reeling and sliding go, Stumble still on the corpses that sleep below. "What, Francis!" "Give Charlotte my last farewell." As the dying man murmurs, the thunders swell-- "I'll give--Oh God! are their guns so near? Ho! comrades!--yon volley!--look sharp to the rear!-- I'll give thy Charlotte thy last farewell, Sleep soft! where death thickest descendeth in rain, The friend thou forsakest thy side shall regain!" Hitherward--thitherward reels the fight, Dark and more darkly day glooms into night-- Brothers, God grant when this life is o'er In the life to come that we meet once more! Hark to the hoofs that galloping go! The adjutant flying,-- The horsemen press hard on the panting foe, Their thunder booms in dying-- Victory! The terror has seized on the dastards all, And their colors fall! |
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