Flying after bliss and light,
Thou return’st in piteous plight;
German truth and German shirt
Strangers draggle through the dirt.
Pale as death hast thou become,
But take comfort, thou’rt at home;
Warm as by the household hearth
Lie we under German earth.
Many others, who fell lame,
Home again, alas! ne’er came,
Though they yearningly implored,—
O have pity, gracious Lord!