Walther von der Vogelweide

Here you will find the Poem Ah! Where Are Hours Departed Fled? (excerpt) of poet Walther von der Vogelweide

Ah! Where Are Hours Departed Fled? (excerpt)

Ah! where are hours departed fled?
Is life a dream, or true indeed?
Did all my heart hath fashioned
From fancy's visitings proceed?
Yes! I have slept; and now unknown
To me the things best known before:
The land, the people, once mine own,
Where are they? -- they are here no more:
My boyhood's friends, all aged, worn,
Despoil'd the woods, the fields, of home,
Only the stream flows on forlorn;
(Alas! that e'er such change should come!)
And he knew me once so well 
Salutes me now as one estranged:
The very earth to me can tell
Of nought but things perverted, changed:
And when I muse on other days,
That pass'd me as the dashing oars
The surface of the ocean raise,
Ceaseless my heart its fate deplores;
&c.