Classic Poem

Ich lag und schlief, und schlief recht mild

I lay and slept, and slept right well,
Free of the old despair;
When in my deepest dream there fell
The vision, fond and fair.

Her face was like a marble girl's
But lovelier with the change;
Her eyes had the cold sheen of pearls,
And her bright hair was strange

And softly, without stir or start,
That maiden, marble-pale,
Came and lay down upon my heart,
Mutely and marble-pale. . . .

I throb and thrill with hot unrest,
The maddest fevers rise;
No throb nor thrill shakes her fair breast
That is as cold as ice.

" No throb nor thrill can stir my breast
That is as cold as ice.
Yet I know Love's eternal quest,
Its pain and paradise.

" My mouth and heart's unwarmed with blood
No red stream courses through.
But do not shudder — think how good
And kind I am to you. "

She held me tight until the dawn,
Struggling to no avail.
A cock crowed once . . . and she was gone,
The maiden, marble-pale.