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The Poems of Heine

by Heinrich Heine

66 of 204 · Contents · Download EPUB

2 Adam the First

Gendarmes of heaven with flaming swords
  Thou sent’st in cruel fashion,
And drov’st me out of Paradise
  Without the least compassion.

In search of another country, I
  And my wife from Eden hasted;
Thou canst not alter the fact that there
  The tree of knowledge I tasted.

Thou canst not alter the fact that I know
  Thy weakness and many blunders,
However mighty thou seemest to be
  When wielding death and thunders.

O heavens, how pitiful is this
  Consilium abeundi!
I call it a Magnificus
  Of earth, a Lumen Mundi.

I shall not miss the spacious realms
  Of Paradise one minute.
It is no genuine Paradise
  When trees forbidden are in it.

I claim my full unfetter’d rights!
  The slightest limitation
Changes my Paradise at once
  To hell and desolation.

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