Something the heart must have to cherish, <br />Must love and joy and sorrow learn, <br />Something with passion clasp, or perish, <br />And in itself to ashes burn. <br /> <br />So to this child my heart is clinging, <br />And its frank eyes, with look intense, <br />Me from a world of sin are bringing <br />Back to a world of innocence. <br /> <br />Disdain must thou endure for ever; <br />Strong may thy heart in danger be! <br />Thou shalt not fail! but ah, be never <br />False as thy father was to me. <br /> <br />Never will I forsake thee, faithless, <br />And thou thy mother ne'er forsake, <br />Until her lips are white and breathless, <br />Until in death her eyes shall break.<br /><br />Henry Wadsworth Longfellow<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/forsaken-from-the-german/
