The old, angry songs

The old, angry songs,

The dreams angry and wicked--

Let us now bury them.

Fetch a large coffin.

In it will I lay many things,

But I will still not say quite what.

The coffin must be still larger

As the cask in Heidelberg.

And fetch a death bier

And planks firm and thick;

They must be still longer

Than the bridge to Mainz.

And fetch me, too, twelve giants;

They must be still stronger

Than that strong St. Christopher

In the Cathedral to Cologne on the Rhine.

They should carry the coffin away

And sink it down deep in the sea,

Since such a great coffin

Deserves a great grave.

Do you know why the coffin

Must be so large and heavy?

I sank with it my love

And my pain, deep within.