Der Tod klopft an bei mir, dass

[169]Johann Heermann

That Death is at my door, too well this anguish shows,

Yet I will fear him not. I bear Thee in my heart,

Thou, O Lord Jesu Christ, with me, nay, in me, art,

And if I die, Thou wilt the gates of heaven unclose.

Why was Thy glorious form so marred, so sadly torn?

Only that I with Thee may know the depths of joy

Throughout etemity. Thou dying didst destroy

The sting of Death, and make our foe an empty scorn.

Ah then forsake me not! Hast Thou not cleansed me

From all the filth of sin wherewith I was defiled

By th' arch-deceiver's arts? Then let me as a child

Now fall asleep in peace, and wake in joy with Thee.

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Footnotes:

[19] The war began in 1618 and ended in 1648, but two years more were consumed in negotiations, during which time the armies, though not actually engaged in hostilities, were maintained, and pressed heavily the land.

[20] See Freitag's "Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit," the chapters on the Thirty Years' War.