Dat Wasser vun Kölle
To ***
With a flask of Rhine water
The old Catholic City was still,
In the Minster the vesper were sung,
And, re-echoed in cadences shrill,
The last call of the trumpet had rung:
While, across, the broad stream of the Rhine,
The full Moon cast a silvery zone;
And, methought, as i gazed on its shine,
„Surely, that is the Eau de Cologne!“
I inquired not the place of its source,
If it ran to the east or the west;
But my heart took a note of its course,
That it flow`d towards Her I love best -
That it flow`d towards Her I love best,
Like those wandering thoughts of my own,
And the fancy such sweetness possess`d,
That the Rhine seemed all Eau de Cologne!
(Thomas Hood)
Stichworte: Köln • Rhein • Thomas Hood