Night in the Cabin
The ocean hath its pearls,The heaven hath its stars,But oh, my heart, my heart,My heart hath its love.
Great are the sea and the heavens,But greater is my heart.And fairer than pearls or starsGlistens and glows my love,
Thou little, youthful maiden,Come unto my mighty heart.My heart, and the sea, and the heavensAre melting away with love.
Yonder myriad stars the eyes areOf my darling, and they twinkle,And they beckon to me kindlyFrom the azure vault of heaven.
Towards the azure vault of heaven,Towards the eyes of my beloved,Piously mine arms uplifting,Thus I supplicate and worship;
Lovely eyes, ye lights of heaven,Graciously my soul inspire--Let me die and let me win you,You and all your spacious heavens.
From the eyes of heaven yonder,Golden sparks fall trembling downward,Through the night. My soul dilateth,Filled and overfilled with passion.
Oh ye eyes of heaven yonder,Weep yourselves to death within me!Till my spirit overflowethWith the radiant starry tear drops.
Cradled by the waves of ocean,And by drowsy thoughts and visions,Still I lie within the cabin,In my berth so dark and narrow.
Through the open hatchway yonder,I can see the stars clear shining.The beloved eyes so gentle,Of my gentle well-beloved.
The beloved eyes so gentleHold above my head their vigil;And they glimmer and they beckonFrom the azure vault of heaven.
On the azure vault of heaven,Still I gaze through blessed hours,Till a white and filmy vaporVeils from me those eyes beloved.
Against the wooden wall of the shipWhere my dreaming head reclines,Break the waves, the wild sea-waves.They whisper and murmurClose into mine ear:"Oh foolish young fellow,Thine arm is short and the sky is far off,And the stars are all firmly nailed aboveWith golden nails.Vain is thy yearning and vain is thy sighing!The best thou canst do is to go to sleep."
I dreamed a dream about a strange vast heath,All overlaid with white and quiet snow.And I beneath that white snow buried lay,And slept the cold and lonely sleep of death.
But from the dark and shadowy heavens yonder,Upon my grave the starry eyes looked down.Those gentle eyes! Triumphantly they sparkled,With still serenity, yet full of love.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- beckon v. t.
- To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand.
- piously adv.
- In a pious manner.
- graciously adv.
- In a gracious manner; courteously; benignantly.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- berth v. t.
- To give an anchorage to, or a place to lie at; to place in a berth; as, she was berthed stem to stern with the Adelaide.
- hatchway n.
- A square or oblong opening in a deck or floor, affording passage from one deck or story to another; the entrance to a cellar.
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- filmy a.
- Composed of film or films.
- triumphantly adv.
- In a triumphant manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Night in the Cabin is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, the Emma Lazarus translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Heinrich Heine, Night in the Cabin, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/night-in-the-cabin.html, id L15453.
Form and metre
Night in the Cabin is 67 lines in 15 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 38 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The ocean hath its pearls, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The heaven hath its stars, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But oh, my heart, my heart, | 6 | ······ |
| My heart hath its love. | 5 | ····· |
| Great are the sea and the heavens, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| But greater is my heart. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And fairer than pearls or stars | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Glistens and glows my love, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thou little, youthful maiden, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Come unto my mighty heart. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| My heart, and the sea, and the heavens | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Are melting away with love. | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| Yonder myriad stars the eyes are | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Of my darling, and they twinkle, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And they beckon to me kindly | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| From the azure vault of heaven. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Towards the azure vault of heaven, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Towards the eyes of my beloved, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Piously mine arms uplifting, | 8 | /˘˘··/·˘ |
| Thus I supplicate and worship; | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| Lovely eyes, ye lights of heaven, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Graciously my soul inspire-- | 7 | /˘˘··˘/ |
| Let me die and let me win you, | 8 | ········ |
| You and all your spacious heavens. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| From the eyes of heaven yonder, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Golden sparks fall trembling downward, | 9 | /˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Through the night. My soul dilateth, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Filled and overfilled with passion. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Oh ye eyes of heaven yonder, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Weep yourselves to death within me! | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| Till my spirit overfloweth | 8 | ··/˘/˘·˘ |
| With the radiant starry tear drops. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Cradled by the waves of ocean, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| And by drowsy thoughts and visions, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Still I lie within the cabin, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In my berth so dark and narrow. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Through the open hatchway yonder, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| I can see the stars clear shining. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The beloved eyes so gentle, | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of my gentle well-beloved. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| The beloved eyes so gentle | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Hold above my head their vigil; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And they glimmer and they beckon | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| From the azure vault of heaven. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| On the azure vault of heaven, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Still I gaze through blessed hours, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Till a white and filmy vapor | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Veils from me those eyes beloved. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Against the wooden wall of the ship | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Where my dreaming head reclines, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Break the waves, the wild sea-waves. | 7 | ······· |
| They whisper and murmur | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Close into mine ear: | 5 | ····· |
| "Oh foolish young fellow, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Thine arm is short and the sky is far off, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the stars are all firmly nailed above | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With golden nails. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Vain is thy yearning and vain is thy sighing! | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| The best thou canst do is to go to sleep." | 10 | ·········· |
| I dreamed a dream about a strange vast heath, | 10 | ·········· |
| All overlaid with white and quiet snow. | 9 | ·/˘····/· |
| And I beneath that white snow buried lay, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And slept the cold and lonely sleep of death. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But from the dark and shadowy heavens yonder, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Upon my grave the starry eyes looked down. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Those gentle eyes! Triumphantly they sparkled, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/˘ |
| With still serenity, yet full of love. | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
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