Heimweh
The Unconquered Air, and Other Poems (1912)
The birds returning seem so gladAs from the South they come,They teach my heart, forlorn and sad,How distant is my home:O'er land and sea wild roaming free,They little understand—Glad nomads—that there is for meOne home—one only Land!
And yonder dancing rivuletThat merrily on doth go,Humming a tune I 'd fain forget,Adds something to my woe:Ah, had it but a thought for me'T would either now be dumb,Or it would croon a melodyLess dear to me at home!
Fond memories of days of yore!—My heart so hungereth,The smell of upland clover orThe dew-wet violet's breathMight quickly fill it with delight;But exiled here I roam,And dread, beyond all else, to-night,The scents that speak of home!