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Coleridge, Samuel Taylor: Cologne

Portre of Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

Cologne (English)

In Köln, a town of monks and bones,
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones,
And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches;
I counted two and seventy stenches,
All well defined, and several stinks!
Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks,
The river Rhine, it is well known,
Doth wash your city of Cologne;
But tell me, Nymphs! what power divine
Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine?

(1828)



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://home.arcor.de/berick

Köln (German)

In Köln, der Mönchs- und Knochenstadt,
Wo jeder Fußweg Stolpersteine hat,
Und Hexen, und Penner, und Lumpenmariechen,
Zählt ich genau zwei und siebzig Gerüche,
Genau unterscheidbar, oft furchtbar sie stanken!
Ihr Nymphen, Beherrscher aller Kloanken,
Der Fluss, der Rhein, das weiß man ja,
Wäscht eure Stadt Colonia;
Doch sagt mir, Nymphen! welch göttliche Kraft
Nachher den Rheinfluss sauber macht?


(1828)



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://home.arcor.de/berick

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