Classic Poem

Berg' und Burgen schaun herunter

Hill and hall are mirrored brightly
In the clear glass of the Rhine;
And my little ship sails lightly
Where the sunlit waters shine.

Quietly I watch the shaken,
Golden billows at their play;
And the thought still comes to waken
What I hoped was laid away.

For the stream leaps to enamor
With its warm and laughing light;
But I know, for all its glamor,
Death is in its heart — and night.

Stream, you are her own reflection:
She can also smile and sin;
She, like you, is all affection —
Fair outside, and false within!