Below is a beautiful poems, “Lorelei”, by Heinrich Heine.

Lorelei
By Heinrich Heine


I know not if there is a reason
Why I am so sad at heart.
A legend of bygone ages
Haunts me and will not depart.

The air is cool under nightfall.
The calm Rhine courses its way.
The peak of the mountain is sparkling
With evening’s final ray.

The fairest of maidens is sitting
Unwittingly wondrous up there,
Her golden jewels are shining,
She’s combing her golden hair.

The comb she holds is golden,
She sings a song as well
Whose melody binds an enthralling
And overpowering spell.

In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized with a savage woe,
He’d rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below.

I think that the waves will devour
The boatman and boat as one;
And this by her song’s sheer power
Fair Lorelei has done.

On the Rhine River, where this tail is said to have taken place at the gates between this world and the next, is a beautiful statue of Lorelei, a maiden who threw herself off of the rock after the man who she was in love with marries another woman, one of noble birth. It is said that, after that, she haunted the location, luring men to their death. Another, older, version of the story says that she is a water sprite.