Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy By the Rev. H. D. Rawnsley |
 |
THE TOMBSTONE OF HEINRICH VON STRATTLINGEN, THE BARD
|
 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
126
THE TOMBSTONE OF HEINRICH VON STRATTLINGEN, THE BARD
IN THE BÄCHIHÖLZI, THUN
Here lies the knightly bard; his head is bare,
His feet are on the lion, and his shield
Shows the barbed arrow; gauntleted and steeled,
His hands are closed and lifted as in prayer:
So during life was reverence his care,
So to the beast in man he would not yield,
But Orpheus-like he tamed him, so a-field
Honour he won with his song-arrows rare.
His feet are on the lion, and his shield
Shows the barbed arrow; gauntleted and steeled,
His hands are closed and lifted as in prayer:
So during life was reverence his care,
So to the beast in man he would not yield,
But Orpheus-like he tamed him, so a-field
Honour he won with his song-arrows rare.
Still, in the old-world singer's sure retreat,
Where lake, and lawn, and snowy height combined
Rouse dullest hearts to passion, thought is sweet,
We feel the breathings of a master mind.
Death drove the Poet from his garden-seat,
But left the soul of all his song behind.
Where lake, and lawn, and snowy height combined
Rouse dullest hearts to passion, thought is sweet,
We feel the breathings of a master mind.
Death drove the Poet from his garden-seat,
But left the soul of all his song behind.
In a wood near Thun, called the Bächihölzi, within sight of the Chartreuse, which it is believed that the poet built in the thirteenth century, lies, beneath the shadow of an oak, the tombstone of Heinrich von Strattlingen, the bard. The knight is clad in mail; he is bareheaded; his hands are raised in prayer; his feet are on a lion, and an arrow is engraved upon his shield.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |