Suevia, my mother, happy land! <br />You also are like your more shining sister <br />Lombardy over there <br />Flowed through by a hundred streams <br />And trees in plenty, white with blossom or reddish <br />And the darker, deep, full green, the wild trees <br />And the Alps of Switzerland overshadow you too, <br />Neighbourly; for near the hearth of the house <br />Is where you live and you can hear <br />Inside from silvery vessels <br />The spring rushing that issues <br />From pure hands when touched <br /> <br />By warm rays <br />Crystal ice and tipped over <br />By the lightly quickening light <br />The snowy summit drenches the earth <br />With purest water. For that reason <br />You are born loyal. Hard <br />Living near the source to quit the place. <br />And your children, the towns <br />On the long lake in the haze <br />On the willowy Neckar and on the Rhine <br />All think <br />Nowhere would be better to live.<br /><br />Friedrich Holderlin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-journey-135/
