Classic Poem

Leap, my swift reindeer,
Over plain and hill!
Thou shalt browse thy fill
My love's hut a-near.
Softest mosses grow
There beneath the snow.

Ah, how brief the day,
And the road how long!
Leap thou with my song;
Let us haste away.
Here can be no rest;
Wolves this place infest.

See yon eagle rise —
Ah, that I could fly!
See yon cloud scud by —
Would I sailed the skies,
So I from above
Might behold thee, Love!

You so quickly yet
Firmly trapped me, Sweet!
So the wild deer's feet
Find the snare that's set.
Oh, my life seeks thine
Like yon stream the brine!

Each succeeding sun,
Each slow night that wears,
Brings its thousand prayers —
Thousands, yet but one —
Just this prayer alone,
That thou be mine own.

Under bowlders steep
Thou mayst hide in fear,
Or with fleet reindeer
Flee to forests deep:
Rock and stately pine
Stay not love like mine!

Leap, my swift reindeer,
Over plain and hill!
Thou shalt graze thy fill
My love's hut a-near.
Sweetest mosses grow
There beneath the snow.