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 (DAS HEXENLIED) 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE WITCHSONG 
 
 (DAS HEXENLIED)
 
 THE WITCHSONG 
 
 (DAS HEXENLIED) 
 
 BY 
 ERNST VON WILDENBRUCH 
 
 ENGLISH VERSION BY 
 
 CARTER S. COLE, M.D. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 1916
 
 Copyright, 1916, by 
 CARTER S. COLE
 
 t 
 
 HEDWIG REICHER 
 
 AT WHOSE SUGGESTION, AND BY 
 
 WHOSE INSPIRATION AND CO-OPERATION, 
 
 THIS TRANSLATION WAS MADE 
 
 A POSSIBILITY 
 
 62390S
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 The present version is a rendition of the 
 text rewritten and rearranged by von Wil- 
 denbruch for the musical setting especially 
 composed for the poem by Max Schillings. 
 
 It differs very slightly from the text as 
 it was first offered to the German public. 
 Some lines were omitted, a few new lines 
 introduced, and the order of the lines occa- 
 sionally changed to give a better musical 
 and dramatic sequence. 
 
 It is quite remarkable that a poem of 
 such exquisite beauty and dramatic inten- 
 sity should have, for so long a time, re- 
 ceived no English version that would bring 
 it to the attention of the English-speaking 
 people.
 
 THE WITCHSONG 
 
 At Herzfeld abbey, the prior told 
 
 How brother Medardus, grown weak and 
 
 old, 
 Could scarcely, he thought, outlive the day : 
 "Haste, brother confessor," said he, "away 
 And bid him confess his sins to thee, 
 Although I know that few they be: 
 The cloister fifty years to-day 
 He serves, and in its shades grew gray: 
 By fasts and penitences he, 
 Prepared, awaits eternity: 
 Of all, he is the holiest 
 And will th' Almighty please the best." 
 The priest then knocked at Medardus' door — 
 A silence answered, nothing more: 
 The confessor crossed the threshold well 
 And strode within Medardus' cell: 
 And hour on hour the hours fared; 
 f 1 1
 
 The monks in wonder looked and glared: 
 "Medardus, blameless in words and acts — 
 What can he reveal about sinful facts?" 
 
 The vesper bells, with muffled call 
 To chapel summoned brothers all: 
 They bowed their heads, they knelt around. 
 For brother Medardus low prayers re- 
 sound — 
 But list ! there comes from far away 
 A pitiful voice in a mournful lay. 
 The prior rose up from the ground: 
 The monks gave ear with care profound. 
 "In Medardus' cell the song is ringing — 
 It is Medardus who is singing!" 
 They heard and asked : What can that be ? 
 Those are not prayers and litany: 
 That sounds like sinful, worldly prate: 
 And see ! and see ! within the gate 
 The confessor hastes, by terror pressed ! 
 *'The Devil is the cloister guest! 
 Medardus to the Tempter fell — 
 Medardus feels the clutch of Hell!" 
 [21
 
 The prior lit the holy wand 
 And held the candle in his hand: 
 The monks, with tapers lit, beside 
 The prior walked, with measured stride: 
 The walls and halls re-echoing rang 
 The plaintive chant the brothers sang: 
 *'From sinful lust, from Satan's might. 
 By grace protect us, God of Light." 
 
 The cell was open — white, haggard, thin, 
 Medardus lay on a poor cot within, 
 His folded hands in fervent prayer, 
 His eyes with livid fire aglare: 
 From stammering, quivering lips, a song 
 Unending, wild, was forced along: 
 A song so strange, a song forlorn, 
 Of longing love, of blasphemous scorn — 
 As if from far-off lands the air 
 Brought perfumes captivating, rare: 
 It was a song unlike a note 
 That ever came from human throat — 
 A wail of woe — then frenzied zest. 
 With terror, rapture filled each breast. 
 [3]
 
 The monks their holy candles waved: 
 
 "Fly, Satan, let his soul be saved !" 
 
 Their crosses swayed, their censers swung — 
 
 Medardus all the wilder sung; 
 
 And deep each heart atremble rang 
 
 The sinful song Medardus sang. 
 
 On the monks there stole like a longing 
 dread 
 
 A deep, gnawing grief for their lives mis- 
 led: 
 
 They thought of the things they now had 
 not, 
 
 Of the days of their youth long since forgot; 
 
 And slower, still slower the sound of the 
 choir — 
 
 Then silence — they listened, enthralled by 
 his fire. 
 
 The prior, pious, zealous, and gray. 
 With horror filled, stood looking away: 
 To brother Medardus he called in a tone 
 In which righteous wrath was plainly 
 shown : 
 
 [ 4 1
 
 *'Wouldst thou the brothers lead astray? 
 
 Begone, damned soul, to Hell away!" 
 
 And see ! from his cot, Medardus arise ! 
 
 A luminous glint his face glorifies, 
 
 His vacant eyes at distance stare. 
 
 As if by a vision enraptured there: 
 
 Then, suddenly, tears down his cheeks 
 
 streaming ran: 
 To the brothers Medardus to speak began: 
 **I once was a priest, was pious like you, 
 Devoutly I read my breviary too. 
 With a fear and a fervor that rose to a 
 
 flood, 
 For young were my limbs, and hot was my 
 
 blood : 
 The flaxen locks hung down from my head 
 As if streams of gold were overspread; 
 And when first they did my tonsuring, 
 It was like they mowed the meadows in 
 
 Spring. 
 That was the time when our native land 
 Was held in the grip of Satan's hand: 
 To lives of shame the women were turned, 
 [5]
 
 And witches were bound at the stake and 
 
 burned. 
 That time, there came, as I sat there. 
 In the dead of night, my lamp aglare, 
 A rap on my door, a knock, a shout — 
 *We need you, father, make haste, come 
 
 out!' 
 The night was dark, and hollow the squall 
 As I was led to a bastion wall 
 Deep under the earth, down a slippery 
 
 flight, 
 Till it seemed that Hell must heave in 
 
 sight. 
 A torch within my hand was placed; 
 In a wall of stone, a hole I faced: 
 'A witch to-morrow, in fire aglow. 
 Atones for her sins: to her now go: 
 A blessed death for her prepare, 
 And save her sinful soul by prayer ! ' 
 The bowels of the earth I sought. 
 And in my throat my breath was caught: 
 From somewhere came a grating sound 
 Of clanking chains, and grief profound; 
 [ 6 1
 
 And in the darkest corner lay, 
 
 As in its lair a beast of prey, 
 
 A woman cowering and bent. 
 
 Her head against the damp wall leant: 
 
 The torch I fastened to a rung 
 
 That from the ceiling, hanging, swung: 
 
 'Thy face upon me turn,' I said: 
 
 'Come, sister, here, be not afraid.' 
 
 I saw how her ear my greetings drank — 
 
 How hand after hand from her face she 
 
 sank: 
 Her head she turned, then looked to see, 
 And on her knees she crawled to me: 
 Her naked arms my knees embrace, 
 Her eyes are rooted on my face: 
 I looked down, the torch, with dancing 
 
 light, 
 Illumined her beautiful face outright: 
 I felt my heart melt, warmed by hers — 
 My eyes were filled with scalding tears; 
 My lips were mute, as pity crept, 
 And silent, sobbing, we both wept; 
 And when my tears she saw, at last, 
 [7]
 
 With trembling arms, she held me fast; 
 A sob deep out of her bosom sprang, 
 From stammering lips a whisper rang: 
 'Thou canst still weep? Thou weepest for 
 
 me? 
 As I love the good Saviour, I love also 
 
 thee.' 
 I was seized by fright at her words of dis- 
 grace : 
 'Recall the hour: remember the place 
 Thy body to-morrow in flames shall burn: 
 Repent, confess, to Heaven turn ! ' 
 With startled mien she said to me: 
 'Why must I do penance? From guilt I 
 
 am free. 
 My parents are dead: alone in a dell, 
 With grandmother, I was wont to dwell: 
 My grandmother knew many herbs that 
 
 cure. 
 And many a potion prepared for the poor: 
 But grandmother, bound at the stake, was 
 
 burned 
 As a devil's witch — so I have learned.
 
 An ancient song my grandmother sang, 
 I learned from her hps, so sweetly it rang: 
 She told me it came from a far-away land 
 Whose people love-magic could understand : 
 I sang it, but knew not its meaning: then 
 I was seized by the hands of heartless men 
 And thrown into prison — this dungeon cell: 
 They said that it was the worm of Hell 
 That sang out of me to corrupt the race: 
 So to-morrow I burn at the stake in dis- 
 grace.' 
 
 Her tremulous lips to my ear closely press, 
 Her eye is imploring, in fright and distress; 
 On mine her heaving bosom lies — 
 'Oh, save me!' said she. 'Oh, save me!' 
 
 she cries: 
 'To live is so sweet, and death is so dire, 
 And dreadful the anguish to perish by fire: 
 No creature have I offended or grieved, 
 No sin have I done, nor witchcraft con- 
 ceived : 
 The hearts of men are just like stone, 
 [ 9 1
 
 But thou art good, thou still canst moan: 
 The jailer sleeps, the door is free. 
 Come, let me fly, and fly with me ! 
 We'll tread so softly that none may hear, 
 The torch we shall smother, no light to 
 
 fear; 
 The turret gate leads out to the field, 
 No one can see, to none must we yield: 
 When break of day the cocks have told. 
 We shall be far away, in the distant wold: 
 The forest is dark, the trees are dense, 
 I know a place that no one shall sense: 
 I know a region — the very spot 
 A treasure lies hidden and long forgot: 
 We shall search and find it: thou'lt take 
 
 it away, 
 Afar we shall fly, and there we will stay. 
 In a foreign land, just thou with me. 
 And ever and ever, just I with thee. 
 No woman hast thou held close to thy 
 
 breast, 
 Nor hast thou the love of a woman pos- 
 sessed: 
 
 [ 10 1
 
 Richer the love that thou shalt know 
 Than any man on earth, I trow: 
 The stars are fading, the hours race by. 
 It is time, it is time! Oh, come, let us 
 fly!' 
 
 Her heated breath like the storm-wind 
 
 blew, 
 Her white arms round my neck she threw; 
 Her hair as dark as the wings of night. 
 Her limbs encircled, voluptuous sight ! 
 With reeling head and with writhing heart, 
 Ecstatic, lustful passions start; 
 I bent lower down, her kisses I sought, 
 Then, trembling, I felt as if back again 
 
 brought: 
 *Thou kissest a witch, thou blessest her 
 
 crime : 
 No share in God's favor hast thou for all 
 
 time.' 
 The word upon my lips was dead: 
 I flung her from my heart and fled, 
 By terror driven from her dwelling — 
 [ 11 1
 
 Her screams with despair and grief were 
 
 w elling : 
 She fell to the earth, she lay on the stones, 
 And after me followed her sobs and her 
 
 groans : 
 But I fled on, out into the night, 
 On my knees in prayer, awake until light, 
 Till the night had passed, till the horror 
 
 was born — 
 And the horror came at the break of 
 
 dawn. 
 
 The heaven blazed with morning flame. 
 The people swarming, hurrying came: 
 In a field far out, where logs were massed. 
 The stake stood dark, by gloom o'ercast — 
 And every eye was fixed on the pyre — 
 There stood she, awaiting her torture by 
 fire. 
 
 Like fluttering birds lost out at sea. 
 So shifted her eyes round anxiously; 
 Then nearer, with crucifix I drew — 
 [ 12 1
 
 Her searching gaze held me in view — 
 
 And see ! and see, how furtively 
 
 Her head she bows, slightly nodding to me, 
 
 A smile her lovely face upon, 
 
 Like the fading light of the setting sun ! 
 
 The flaming brand the torchman swung. 
 Her languorous eyes on mine were hung; 
 The flames the branches dry wrapped 
 
 round, 
 Her staring eyes held me spell-bound: 
 Like dust disturbed, the sparklets shivered, 
 Like falling leaves, her two lips quivered; 
 And shortly, asudden, I heard a ringing 
 From burning brush — she had started sing- 
 ing ! 
 
 Like Spring showers rustling in the night. 
 So gripped me her song, with its sweet, 
 
 blessed might; 
 As if air exotic from alien blooms 
 Had borrowed and brought their rich per- 
 fumes : 
 
 [13]
 
 As though, said a voice in my ear, thou shalt 
 never 
 
 Enjoy the deUghts thou hast lost forever. 
 
 The flames enveloped her naked feet, 
 
 She gave a last greeting — a nod discrete: 
 
 The black smoke rising around her swirled, 
 
 Her pitiful song with the smoke was 
 whirled : 
 
 (Deep roared the flames to heaven spring- 
 ing, 
 
 Like tremulous bells, she kept up her sing- 
 ing) 
 
 My ears with both my hands defending, 
 
 *That singing ! that singing ! When is it 
 ending ? ' 
 
 I turned with a shudder and fled from the 
 spot — 
 
 That heart-breaking voice would leave me 
 not: 
 
 Wherever I hastened, and whence sped 
 away. 
 
 That song, that song, was with me alway; 
 
 And whether asleep or awake in prayer, 
 [ 14 1
 
 All day, all night, and everywhere 
 Since then — it is fifty years to-day — 
 I hear it forever and ever stay ! " 
 
 (Medardus looked wild and arose from his 
 
 cot.) 
 *'I hear her again: perceive ye it not? 
 Up the walk, through the door, it draweth 
 
 near 
 
 She treads on the threshold — is here ! is 
 
 here ! 
 Thou woman pure — a witch so they 
 
 claim, 
 Thou lovely form that they branded with 
 
 shame. 
 Ye luscious lips, ye eyes languid, tender. 
 Thou sweet, welling bloom of limbs sport- 
 ive, slender, 
 Thou rapturous bliss, once offered to me. 
 Which, disdaining, I thrust into Eternity, 
 Thou offerest the blessing my crime cast 
 
 aside, 
 For me, heaven's door thou openest wide: 
 [ 15 1
 
 After fifty years of penance and pain, 
 
 I come and forever with thee shall remain !" 
 
 He raised up his arms — his limbs rigid 
 
 stay: 
 "Medardus is dead," the brothers low say: 
 They knelt in a circle: the gray dawn broke 
 Through the windows — the prior spoke: 
 "What human eyes cannot grasp nor see, 
 To One above shall manifest be: 
 It is he that hath said, 'Judgment is mine.' 
 Go, brothers, pray: to judge is not thine!" 
 
 16
 
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