Burger's "Lenore" spawned many imitations and translations in the nineteenth century, the most famous of which is probably Dante Gabriel Rossetti's. This is mine, which owes something to Rossetti's version.
Lenore
Lenore in her bed is deeply disturbed
by nightmare-madness that shakes and unnerves,
by the terror of dream that ennervates souls,
the last horror, hopelessness, that Pandora stole,
while the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
widly dash as they seek to be free.
"Ah, Wilhelm," she says, in a sigh like a moan,
"have you no faith, or no strength, to come home?
Have you no means, or no will, to return,
when Iliam falls and Jerusalem burns?"
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
And the armies come home, the men and the boys;
the throngs of the soldiers return to their joys.
But never is Wilhelm found laughing with bliss,
arriving at home to catch Lenore's kiss.
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
Swiftly and often the maiden's bright eye
searches among the men who go by,
gladsome and glorious, and uncaring at all
for Lenore's worried searching, or the name that she calls.
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
Her mother seeks to ease her, as mothers will do:
"God is in heaven, His grace ever new;
seek mercy from him, and comfort you'll see."
"Mother, it seems God has no mercy for me."
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Her words are but the words of a child distraught;
she knows not the sense of this wickedest thought!
Heaven, forgive her, and daughter, know this:
God's wisdom is endless, and mercy is his."
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Mother, my mother, your God does not care,
and he who has mercy relieves all despair;
but pitiless God, he brings only night,
takes away Wilhelm, and shuts away light!"
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Heaven forgive you! The wine and the bread
show a God with the mercy to save us from death.
The cup and the paten are mercy indeed:
reflect on their power; my daughter, take heed!"
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Mother, the lies of the wine and the bread
have no power to vanquish or raise from the dead;
no pity I find there, only the loss
of a man all forsaken and dead on the cross."
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"And what if it's Wilhelm, not God, who's untrue?
What if your young man another pursues
on some rugged mountain, on some distant plain?
Watch who you blame in your anguish and pain!"
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Mother, my mother, it all matters not,
if his heart be still or by someone else caught,
nothing at all can raise this sad head,
my life is for nothing, my place with the dead."
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Cease, my dear girl, all this moan and complaint!
Set your sweet heart on the goal of the saint:
seek you the vision of the God who makes whole,
He who alone is bridegroom to the soul."
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"What is bliss, my sweet mother? And what is hell?
With Wilhelm is bliss, and without him I fell
down to the darkness, down to the tomb.
He is my light, all else is but gloom."
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"All other things, You may take away,"
the lovely Lenore in her anguish did pray,
"but Wilhelm alone is my heaven and light.
She requires no other who is by his side."
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
The clack and the clatter of the hoof of the steed,
the clank of the steel and the voice Lenore needs,
waft through the door to meet Lenore's ear,
to bring her rejoicing and turn her to cheer.
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Are you waking or sleeping, Lenore, O my bride?
Come with me, come with me, away let us ride!
Off must we go, ere dawn slays the night,
a fast journey and far, to wedded delights!"
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"Wilhelm, my Wilhelm, eleven's the bell
that tolls in the churchyard and says all is ell;
rest you within until night's retreat;
come inside, dearest, and whisper me sweet."
But the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"No, my Lenore, before break of day
I have many a mile to mark on my way.
Swift, at dead gallop, through storm and through night,
through rain and through gusting, before morning's light."
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
Without pause, unwary, she raced through the door
with kiss and caress no man could ignore;
but Wilhelm straightway did lift her beside,
and settled her down, and away they did ride.
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
The world like a pouring of water sped by
as bridge blurred to bridge for the slow human eye,
and trees of the forest became like a wall
that flickered and rose, then behind them did fall.
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
Shimmers and shadows alone in the dark
rose to the eye like the fire and spark,
the shapes of the warriors who died far away;
they rush to find solace before break of day.
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
"What ails you, my darling, my dearest, my bride?
Why do you shudder and your head turn aside?
Are they not lovely, the shades of the dead?"
Lenore answered not as she covered her head.
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dashed as they sought to be free.
Soon to a gate born of iron and fire
they came; and there Wilhelm as if in ire
threw back his hand, and the iron bolts bent,
and gently inside the two lovers went.
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dashed as they sought to be free.
But see how the moonlight plays tricks on the eye!
See Wilhelm, how thin, like bones long laid by!
See now his head, like a skull reft of skin,
and how like he looks to the bones of dead men!
And the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
Now lies before them the tombs of the dead,
but Wilhelm sings of the sweet nuptial bed,
and Lenore, who now struggles, was drawn ere she wist
into the grave by cold hand on her wrist.
For the ghosts of the dead across land and sea
wildly dash as they seek to be free.
