Lenore by Burger (published 1773) is often quoted as a vampiric poem for two reasons – a line from this poem is used in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the subject matter is that of a bridegroom finally coming to claim his bride, only to reveal himself as a skeleton whose dwelling place is a coffin. It lacks the elements of a bloated corpse and any hint of blood-sucking, but it is certainly inspired by the Balkan reports of vampires. The final stanzas, when the bridegroom is revealed for what he is, are quoted below:
“Ha sieh! Ha sieh! im Augenblick,
Huhu! ein gräßlich Wunder!
Des Reiters Koller, Stück für Stück,
Fiel ab, wie mürber Zunder.
Zum Schädel, ohne Zopf und Schopf,
Zum nackten Schädel ward sein Kopf;
Sein Körper zum Gerippe,
Mit Stundenglas und Hippe.
Hoch bäumte sich, wild schnob der Rapp',
Und sprühte Feuerfunken;
Und hui! war's unter ihr hinab
Verschwunden und versunken.
Geheul! Geheul aus hoher Luft,
Gewinsel kam aus tiefer Gruft.
Lenorens Herz, mit Beben,
Rang zwischen Tod und Leben.
Nun tanzten wohl bei Mondenglanz,
Rundum herum im Kreise,
Die Geister einen Kettentanz,
Und heulten diese Weise:
»Geduld! Geduld! Wenn's Herz auch bricht!
Mit Gott im Himmel hadre nicht!
Des Leibes bist du ledig;
Gott sei der Seele gnädig!49
My translation of these stanzas is below:
“Ha look! Ha look! In one instant, / Huhu! A horrid wonder!
The horseman’s cape-collar, piece by piece, / Fell away, like crumbling
tinder.
To the skull, without braid or shock of hair, / To the bare skull was revealed
his head;
His body became nought but a skeleton, / Bearing hourglass and scythe.
“He reared up, wildly snorted the black horse, / And sprayed sparks
of fire;
And hui! The ground beneath / Was vanished and sunken.
Howling! Howling into the high wind, / Whimpering came out of that deep grave.
Lenore’s heart, with quaking, / Wrestled between death and life.
“Now danced by moonlight / (Around and around in a circle)
The ghosts their chain-dance, / And howled in this way:
‘Patience! Patience! If it should break the heart! / With God in Heaven
you must not quarrel!
You are freed from the body; / May God preserve the soul!’”