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Dame Care, the deep gray-veiled dame,
You know her, dear parents, not only by name;
She came, His thirty years to-day,
And into strange countries she followed your way.
As the November day, sad and dreary and dull,
Lay on the heath in a leaden lull,
And in the willow-trees the wind
Whistled your wedding-dance, rough and unkind.
And when, after hours without any rest,
In Littau's forest you found a nest,
And trembling stood at the threshold so bare,
She entered with you, gray Dame Care,
And waving her arms she blessed the two,
The home you entered, the house and you,
And blessed those two, who, without harm,
Still slept in creation's shielding arm.
The empty cradle that time did mark
Stands under the staircase in the dark,
Indulging in long deserved rest,
As four times it saw a new little guest.
Then when sun sunk, and all round slept,
From some dark corner a shadow crept,
And staggered dumbly and grew and rose,
And crept with stretched arms to the cradle close.
And what Dame Care then promised to you,
Life has so faithfully made it true
In sighs and weeping and ever and aye,
In troubles of weary working-day,
In pain of so many a sleepless night,
With need and torment ever in sight.
And you are gray, your strength grew lame,
But ever still the deep-veiled Dame
Walks with fixed eyes and blessing hand
All through the poor house, to pass without end
From the tables so poor to the chests so bare.
From threshold to threshold, and blows in the glare
Of the flame on the hearth, and ever and aye
Rivets the weary day to the day.
O dearest parents, don't cease to strive,
And as you had work and cares all your life,
A life so hard and a life so long,
So will at last from Heaven descend
A day of rest when care has an end.
We boys are young, and we can strive,
Our courage is still fresh in life.
We know how to fight with care and need,
And where luck's flower is blooming so sweet.
Soon we return, and when we are there,
We laughingly turn her out, gray Dame Care.
* * * * *
II. DU ( Thou ) AND SIR ( You ), pages 68, 115, 116: References to the German use of the former pronoun to denote greater intimacy than the latter implies.
III. AUGUST, page 143: Name of the chief clown in the Berlin Circus.
IV. POLTERABEND, page 275; Evening before the wedding. In some parts of Germany it is customary for the friends of the bride to bring old china or glass, which they smash before her door.