Das Buch der Deutschen in America: Pages 403 - 407






To My Children

Speak the German language,
Promote the German word,
The spirit of our fathers
Resides in what we've heard.
Revelations of greatness
Our German tongue imparts,
Unfurling life's beauty and
Instilling it in our hearts.

What a Lessing ponders
What a Goethe sets to rhyme
Sings forever sweetly
Preserved for all time.
When I think of Schiller,
It truely warms my heart.
How cold the world would be
If Schiller had no part.

See to it, my children
That wherever you may stand
The ties of language bind you
To our ancient fatherland.
Preserve your German heritage.
Use it in good health,
So my children's children
May share its cultural wealth!

When the time alloted me
Is used up on this earth,
I'll sleep in peaceful slumber
Beneath the cool brown earth:

For what the muse has given me
I have passed along
Honor it, my children —
The gift of German song.

Speak the German language,
Promote the German word,
The spirit of our fathers
Resides in what we've heard.
Revelations of greatness
Our German tongue imparts,
Unfurling life's beauty and
Instilling it in our hearts.
            Friedrich Carl Castelhun




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Text provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo NY
Imaging and translation by Susan Kriegbaum-Hanks