Classic Poem

Boasting of the worth and number
Of their lands in glowing terms,
Once sat many German princes
In th' Imperial Hall at Worms.

" Glorious is the land I govern, "
Saxony's ruler first maintains;
" Deep within its teeming mountains,
Silver lies in num'rous veins. "

" See in mine, luxuriant fulness, "
Said th' Elector of the Rhine:
" Golden cornfields in the valleys,
On the mountains, matchless wine. "

" Cities great and cloisters wealthy, "
Lewis of Bavaria held;
" Prove my land, in power and treasures,
Is by none of yours excelled. "

Eberhard — with beard so ample —
Wurtemberg's beloved lord,
Said, " My realm hath smaller cities;
Bear its hills no silver hoard;

" Yet it holds, concealed, a jewel;
Though in vastest woods I stray,
In the lap of any subject
I my head can safely lay! "

Then exclaimed the lords of Saxony
And Bavaria and the Rhine:
" Bearded Count, thou art the richest!
Bears the palm — that land of thine! "