Speak then, thou voice of God within, And the voice answer'd-"Be thou still! Clouds, winds, and stars their part fulfil, KÖRNER AND HIS SISTER. Charles Theodore Körner, the celebrated young German poet and soldier, was killed in a skirmish with a detachment of French troops, on the 20th of August 1813, a few hours after the composition of his popular piece, The Sword Song. He was buried at the village of Wöbbelin in Mecklenburg, under a beautiful oak, in a recess of which he had frequently deposited verses composed by him while campaigning in its vicinity. The monument erected to his memory is of cast iron; and the upper part is wrought into a lyre and sword, a favourite emblem of Körner's, from which one of his works had been entitled. Near the grave of the poet is that of his only sister, who died of grief for his loss, having only survived him long enough to complete his portrait and a drawing of his burial-place. Over the gate of the cemetery is engraved one of his own lines: "Vergiss die treuen Tödten nicht." Forget not the faithful dead. See Richardson's Translation of Körner's Life and Works, and Downes' Letters from Mecklenburg. GREEN wave the oak for ever o'er thy rest, And, in the stillness of thy country's breast, Thy place of memory as an altar keepest; Rest, bard! rest, soldier!-by the father's hand. In the hush'd presence of the glorious dead. The oak waved proudly o'er thy burial rite, On thy crown'd bier to slumber warriors bore thee, And with true hearts thy brethren of the fight Wept as they vail'd their drooping banners o'er thee; And the deep guns with rolling peal gave token, That Lyre and Sword were broken. Thou hast a hero's tomb :-a lowlier bed Is hers, the gentle girl beside thee lyingThe gentle girl, that bow'd her fair young head When thou wert gone, in silent sorrow dying. Brother, true friend! the tender and the braveShe pined to share thy grave. Fame was thy gift from others;-but for her, To whom the wide world held that only spot, She loved thee!-lovely in your lives ye were, And in your early deaths divided not. Thou hast thine oak, thy trophy :-What hath she? Her own bless'd place by thee! It was thy spirit, brother, which had made The bright earth glorious to her youthful eye, Since first in childhood 'midst the vines ye play'd, And sent glad singing through the free blue sky. Ye were but two-and when that spirit pass'd, Woe to the one, the last! Woe, yet not long!-She linger'd but to trace But smile upon her, ere she went to rest. The earth grew silent when thy voice departed, Have ye not met ere now?-so let those trust 'The following lines, recently addressed to the author of the above, by the venerable father of Körner, who, with the mother, still survives the "Lyre, Sword, and Flower," here commemorated, may not be uninteresting to the German reader. THE DEATH-DAY OF KÖRNER.' A SONG for the death-day of the brave- The youth went down to a hero's grave, He went, with his noble heart unworn, An eagle stooping from clouds of morn, He went with the lyre, whose lofty tone Had thrill'd to the name of his God alone, Wohllaut tönt aus der Ferne von freundlichen Lüften getragen Heil dem Brittischen Volke, wenn ihm das Deutsche nicht fremd ist! Theodor Körner's Vater. 'On reading part of a letter from Körner's father, addressed to Mr. Richardson, the translator of his works, in which he speaks of "The Death-day of his son." 'See The Sword Song, composed on the morning of his death. And with all his glorious feelings yet In their first glow, Like a southern stream that no frost hath met To chain its flow. A song for the death-day of the brave A song of pride! For him that went to a hero's grave, He hath left a voice in his trumpet lays And a guiding spirit for after days, And a grief in his father's soul to rest, And a memory unto his mother's breast And a name and fame above the blight In life and death! A song for the death-day of the brave- For him that went to a hero's grave, With the Sword, his bride! |