Loreley
24 March 2004
In order to fully appreciate the following, you must first know a couple of trivial facts about me. First of all, I have long blonde hair. And second of all, I have been known to spend a large amount of time brushing said hair. And I am not being vain here, but truthfully put, I have hair that many women “dye” for…
“According to German legend, there was once a beautiful young maiden, named Lorelei, who threw herself headlong into the river in despair over a faithless lover. Upon her death she was transformed into a siren and could from that time on be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River, near St. Goar. Her hypnotic music lured sailors to their death. The legend is based on an echoing rock with that name near Sankt Goarshausen, Germany.”
–from the Encyclopedia Mythica
The Lorelei (English Version)
by Heinrich Heine, 1823
(note: English version NOT translated by me)
I cannot tell why this imagined
Sorrow has fallen on me
The ghost of an unburied legend
That will not let me be.
The air is cool, and twilight
Flows from the quiet Rhine;
A mountain alone in the high light
Catches the faltering shire.
One rosy peak half gleaming
Reveals, enthroned in air,
A goddess lost in dreaming
Who combs her golden hair.
With a golden comb she is combing
Her hair as she sings a song;
Heard and reheard in the gloaming
It hurries the night along.
The boatman has heard what has bound him
In throes of a strange, wild love.
He is blind to the reefs that surround him,
Who sees but the vision above.
And lo, the wild waters are springing -
The boat and the boatman are gone…
Then silence. And this with her singing,
The Lorelei has done.
Die Lorelei (German Version)
Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
daß ich so traurig bin;
ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
und ruhig fließt der Rhein;
der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
im Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
dort oben wunderbar,
ihr goldnes Geschmeide blitzet,
sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme,
und singt ein Lied dabei;
das hat eine wundersame,
gewaltige Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;
und das hat mit ihrem Singen
die Lorelei getan.
So anyway, A.’s family lives very near the Loreley and ever since I have known him he has teased me about brushing my hair like Loreley. We have traveled by the Loreley rock a few times on the train, but had never stopped there. However, this past weekend we did.
A. was going to take my picture on the rock brushing my hair, but it was so windy that my hair got trapped in the brush and the whole idea didn’t work too well. I did take some photos of the Loreley Cliff/Rock and some of the Rhine Valley from the top of the cliff though. However, since I have yet to make the transition to the digital camera age, the pictures will have to be developed and then scanned before you may enjoy them. However, you can see someone else’s photos of the Loreley area and the Rhine Valley or find out more about the Loreley Legend here.
