396 POEMS 
FORWARD 
FROM THE GERMAN OF HOFFMANN VON FALLERS- 
LEBEN 
It is a time of swell and flood ; 
We linger on the strand, 
And all that might to us bring good 
Lies in a distant land. 
Oh, forward ! forward! why stand still ? 
The tide will not run dry ; 
Who in the flood ne’er venture will, 
That land shall never spy. 
NATURE’S CRADLE-SONG 
FROM THE GERMAN OF RUCKERT 
“ Dreimal mit dem weissen Kleide.” 
THRICE with winter’s whitest snows 
Has thy mother decked thy bed, 
Thrice ’mid summer’s loveliest glows 
Twined green garlands o’er thy head, 
Asking yet uncomforted, 
“ Still thy slumber art thou keeping ?” 
— Thou art still in cradle sleeping. 
