ABSTRACT
How hauntingly the German translation of the Irish song, ‘Long, long ago!’ rings in the ears of the ageing Mörike! The life of the present offers more sadness than joy, and it is only when his eyes are turned on the past that the smouldering embers give forth a belated flicker. These lines are the beginning of a poem written for the wedding of Auguste Mährlen, who had delighted Mörike a few years previously by singing ‘Lang’, lang’ ist’s her!’ as a duet with a friend, like herself a gifted musician; but it is the love for Auguste’s father, ‘Den Freund, mit dem ich jung gewesen, und bei dem/Das Herz mir immer jung aufgeht, so alt es sei’, which lends warmth and emotional tension to the poet’s words. Outwardly Mörike was enjoying a social occasion for which a man of the happy, uncomplicated nature of Mährlen was the perfect host, but he tells us that in the midst of all the champagne-drinking and gaiety, the words ‘Lang’, lang’ ist’s her!’ would not be banished and carried him back to the past shared with his friend.
