Thereupon quickly he seized, the good and intelligent pastor,
First the father’s hand, and the wedding-ring drew from his finger,—­
Not so easily either:  the finger was plump and detained it,—­
Next took the mother’s ring also, and with them betrothed he the children,
Saying:  “These golden circlets once more their office performing
Firmly a tie shall unite, which in all things shall equal the old one,
Deeply is this young man imbued with love of the maiden,
And, as the maiden confesses, her heart is gone out to him also. 
Here do I therefore betroth you and bless for the years that are coming,
With the consent of the parents, and having this friend as a witness.”

Then the neighbor saluted at once, and expressed his good wishes;
But when the clergyman now the golden circlet was drawing
Over the maiden’s hand, he observed with amazement the other,
Which had already by Hermann been anxiously marked at the fountain. 
And with a kindly raillery thus thereupon he addressed her: 
“So, then thy second betrothal is this? let us hope the first bridegroom
May not appear at the altar, and so prohibit the marriage.”

But she, answering, said:  “Oh, let me to this recollection
Yet one moment devote; for so much is due the good giver,
Him who bestowed it at parting, and never came back to his kindred. 
All that should come he foresaw, when in haste the passion for freedom,
When a desire in the newly changed order of things to be working,
Urged him onward to Paris, where chains and death he encountered. 
‘Fare thee well,’ were his words; ’I go, for all is in motion
Now for a time on the earth, and every thing seems to be parting. 
E’en in the firmest states fundamental laws are dissolving;
Property falls away from the hand of the ancient possessor;
Friend is parted from friend; and so parts lover from lover. 
Here I leave thee, and where I shall find thee again, or if ever,
Who can tell?  Perhaps these words are our last ones together. 
Man’s but a stranger here on the earth, we are told and with reason;
And we are each of us now become more of strangers than ever. 
Ours no more is the soil, and our treasures are all of them changing: 
Silver and gold are melting away from their time-honored patterns. 
All is in motion as though the already-shaped world into chaos
Meant to resolve itself backward into night, and to shape itself over. 
Mine thou wilt keep thine heart, and should we be ever united
Over the ruins of earth, it will be as newly made creatures,
Beings transformed and free, no longer dependent on fortune;
For can aught fetter the man who has lived through days such as these are! 
But if it is not to be, that, these dangers happily over,
Ever again we be granted the bliss of mutual embraces,
Oh, then before thy thoughts so keep my hovering image
That with unshaken mind thou be ready for good or