s: While the dream of the past stood before him;


s: And when on the minstrel he turned his eye,


s: His words' hidden meaning stole o'er him;


s: For seeing the traits of the priest there revealed,


s: In the folds of his purple-dyed robe he concealed


s: And all on the emperor wonderingly gazed,


s: And the blest dispensations of Providence praised,


s: Woman, never judge man by his individual actions;


s: But upon man as a whole, pass thy decisive decree.


s: When the lion he sees, loudly roars he about,


s: And a terrible circle his tail traces out.


s: Protruding his tongue, past the lion he walks,


s: And, snarling with rage, round him warily stalks:


s: On the tiger they rush, for the fight nothing loth,


s: But he with his paws seizes hold of them both.


s: And the lion, with roaring, gets up,--then all's still;


s: The fierce beasts stalk around, madly thirsting to kill.


s: To the knight, Sir Delorges, in tone of jest,


s: "Sir Knight, if the love that thou feel'st in thy breast


s: Is as warm as thou'rt wont at each moment to swear,


s: Pick up, I pray thee, the glove that lies there!"


s: And the knight, in a moment, with dauntless tread,


s: Jumps into the lists, nor seeks to linger,


s: And, from out the midst of those monsters dread,


s: Picks up the glove with a daring finger.


s: And the knights and ladies of high degree


s: While he quietly brings in his hand the glove,


s: The praise of his courage each mouth employs;


s: Fair Cunigund welcomes him back to his place.


s: But he threw the glove point-blank in her face:


s: "Lady, no thanks from thee I'll receive!"


s: And that selfsame hour he took his leave.


s: All, thou gentle one, lies embraced in thy kingdom; the graybeard


s: A youth, impelled by a burning thirst for knowledge


s: The priesthood's secret learning to explore,


s: Had passed through many a grade with eager haste,


s: And still was hurrying on with fond impatience.


s: Scarce could the Hierophant impose a rein


s: A part without the whole?" the youth exclaimed;


s: "Can there be here a lesser or a greater?


s: The truth thou speak'st of, like mere earthly dross,


s: Deprive the rainbow of one single color,


s: And all that will remain is naught, so long


s: As that one color, that one note, is wanting."


s: While thus they converse held, they chanced to stand


s: Within the precincts of a lonely temple,


s: The youth's attention caught. In wonderment


s: He turned him toward his guide, and asked him, saying,


s: "What form is that concealed beneath yon veil?"


s: "Truth!" was the answer. "What!" the young man cried,


s: Seekest thou to hide that very truth from me?"


s: "The Godhead's self alone can answer thee,"


s: Replied the Hierophant. "'Let no rash mortal


s: Disturb this veil,' said he, 'till raised by me;


s: Hast never ventured, then, to raise the veil?"


s: The least desire."--"Is't possible? If I


s: Were severed from the truth by nothing else


s: Than this thin gauze--" "And a divine decree,"


s: His guide broke in. "Far heavier than thou thinkest


s: Is this thin gauze, my son. Light to thy hand


s: It may be--but most weighty to thy conscience."


s: The youth now sought his home, absorbed in thought;


s: Banished all sleep; upon his couch he lay,


s: Tossing his feverish limbs. When midnight came,


s: The walls he scaled, and soon one active spring


s: Welcomed by naught save fearful, deathlike silence,--


s: Alone disturbs, as through the vaults he paces.


s: The moon cast down her pale and silvery beams,


s: Glittering amid the darkness of the pile,


s: In its long veil concealed, the statue stands.


s: With hesitating step, he now draws near--


s: His impious hand would fain remove the veil--


s: Sudden a burning chill assails his bones


s: "Unhappy one, what wouldst thou do?" Thus cries


s: A faithful voice within his trembling breast.


s: "Wouldst thou profanely violate the All-Holy?"


s: "'Tis true the oracle declared, 'Let none


s: Venture to raise the veil till raised by me.'


s: That he who did so would behold the truth?


s: Whate'er is hid behind, I'll raise the veil."


s: And then he shouted: "Yes! I will behold it!"


s: Repeats in mocking tone the distant echo.


s: He speaks, and, with the word, lifts up the veil.


s: Would you inquire what form there met his eye?


s: I know not,--but, when day appeared, the priests


s: Found him extended senseless, pale as death,


s: What had been seen and heard by him when there


s: He never would disclose, but from that hour


s: To an untimely grave. "Woe to that man,"


s: "Woe to that man who wins the truth by guilt,


s: For truth so gained will ne'er reward its owner."


s: "Take the world!" Zeus exclaimed from his throne in the skies


s: To the children of man--"take the world I now give;


s: It shall ever remain as your heirloom and prize,


s: So divide it as brothers, and happily live."


s: Then all who had hands sought their share to obtain,


s: The young and the aged made haste to appear;


s: The husbandman seized on the fruits of the plain,


s: The youth through the forest pursued the fleet deer.


s: The merchant took all that his warehouse could hold,


s: The abbot selected the last year's best wine,


s: The king barred the bridges,--the highways controlled,


s: And said, "Now remember, the tithes shall be mine!"


s: But when the division long-settled had been,


s: The poet drew nigh from a far distant land;


s: But alas! not a remnant was now to be seen,


s: Each thing on the earth owned a master's command.


s: "Alas! shall then I, of thy sons the most true,--


s: Shall I, 'mongst them all, be forgotten alone?"


s: Thus loudly he cried in his anguish, and threw


s: Himself in despair before Jupiter's throne.


s: "If thou in the region of dreams didst delay,


s: Complain not of me," the Immortal replied;


s: "When the world was apportioned, where then wert thou, pray?"


s: "I was," said the poet, "I was--by thy side!"


s: "Mine eye was then fixed on thy features so bright,


s: Mine ear was entranced by thy harmony's power;


s: Oh, pardon the spirit that, awed by thy light,


s: All things of the earth could forget in that hour!"


s: "What to do?" Zeus exclaimed,--"for the world has been given;


s: The harvest, the market, the chase, are not free;


s: But if thou with me wilt abide in my heaven,


s: Whenever thou comest, 'twill be open to thee!"


s: If thou never hast gazed upon beauty in moments of sorrow,


s: For those who on the Olympian hill rejoice--


s: Moons wane, and races wither to the tomb,


s: The rosy days of Gods--With man, the choice,


s: The sense's pleasure and the soul's content;


s: While on celestial brows, aloft and sheen,


s: Seekest thou on earth the life of gods to share,


s: To pluck the fruits that glitter to thine eye;


s: Content thyself with gazing on their glow--


s: Short are the joys possession can bestow,


s: And in possession sweet desire will die.


s: 'Twas not the ninefold chain of waves that bound


s: Thy daughter, Ceres, to the Stygian river--


s: She plucked the fruit of the unholy ground,


s: The weavers of the web--the fates--but sway


s: Safe from change that time to matter gives,


s: Nature's blest playmate, free at will to stray


s: With gods a god, amidst the fields of day,


s: The form, the archetype , serenely lives.


s: Would'st thou soar heavenward on its joyous wing?


s: Cast from thee, earth, the bitter and the real,


s: High from this cramped and dungeon being, spring


s: Here, bathed, perfection, in thy purest ray,


s: Dim as those phantom ghosts of life that gleam


s: And wander voiceless by the Stygian stream,--


s: Ere down to flesh the immortal doth descend:--


s: Each contest--here a victory crowns the end


s: Not from the strife itself to set thee free,


s: Wave her rich garland from the ideal clime.


s: Whate'er thy wish, the earth has no repose--


s: Life still must drag thee onward as it flows,


s: Whirling thee down the dancing surge of time.


s: But when the courage sinks beneath the dull


s: Sense of its narrow limits--on the soul,


s: Bright from the hill-tops of the beautiful,


s: If worth thy while the glory and the strife


s: In the hot field where strength and valor are,


s: And rolls the whirling thunder of the car,


s: And the world, breathless, eyes the glorious game--


s: Then dare and strive--the prize can but belong


s: To him whose valor o'er his tribe prevails;


s: In life the victory only crowns the strong--


s: But life, whose source, by crags around it piled,


s: Chafed while confined, foams fierce and wild,


s: Glides soft and smooth when once its streams expand,


s: When its waves, glassing in their silver play,


s: Gain the still beautiful--that shadow-land!


s: Here, contest grows but interchange of love,


s: All curb is but the bondage of the grace;


s: Gone is each foe,--peace folds her wings above


s: When, through dead stone to breathe a soul of light,


s: The kindling genius, some great sculptor glows;


s: Behold him straining, every nerve intent--


s: The stately thought its march laborious goes!


s: The unwilling truth from her mysterious well--


s: Out of the matter which thy pains control


s: The statue springs!--not as with labor wrung


s: From the hard block, but as from nothing sprung--


s: Airy and light--the offspring of the soul!


s: The pangs, the cares, the weary toils it cost


s: Leave not a trace when once the work is done--


s: The Artist's human frailty merged and lost


s: Beyond thy reach, perfection;--if we test


s: How mean our efforts and our actions are!


s: This space between the ideal of man's soul


s: And man's achievement, who hath ever past?


s: An ocean spreads between us and that goal,


s: But fly the boundary of the senses--live


s: And, lo, the gulf shall vanish, and the chill


s: And with divinity thou sharest the throne,


s: The sense (it cannot chain the soul) to thrall.


s: Let man no more the will of Jove withstand ,


s: Which the Greek art has made divine in stone--


s: Could'st see the writhing limbs, the livid cheek,


s: Note every pang, and hearken every shriek,


s: To share the human woe before thine eye--


s: Thy cheek would pale, and all thy soul be true


s: Lo, the Laocoon writhes, but does not groan.


s: Here, no sharp grief the high emotion knows--


s: Here, suffering's self is made divine, and shows


s: The brave resolve of the firm soul alone:


s: Of the spent thunder-cloud, to art is given,


s: Gleaming through grief's dark veil, the peaceful blue


s: And to restore the friend he loved to-day,


s: He went undaunted to the black-browed god;


s: And all the torments and the labors sore


s: With patient spirit and unquailing, bore,


s: Until the god cast down his garb of clay,


s: The mortal part from the divine--to soar


s: Blithe in the pride of the unwonted wing,


s: And the dull matter that confined before


s: Sinks downward, downward, downward as a dream!


s: Olympian hymns receive the escaping soul,


s: And smiling Hebe, from the ambrosial stream,


s: But, O Germany, try if thou for thy rulers canst make it


s: Harder as kings to be great,--easier, though, to be men!


s: Deeper and bolder truths be careful, my friends, of avowing;


s: For as soon as ye do all the world on ye will fall.


s: From whence she wandered, none could tell;


s: She brought mysterious fruits and flowers--


s: To some the fruits, the flowers to some;


s: She saw two hearts that loved draw near.


s: Ever honor the whole; individuals only I honor;


s: In individuals I always discover the whole.


s: And seems, when thou draw'st near, to fly.


s: It comes first with the stream, and goes


s: Where may be found this bridge, disclose,


s: With speed of thought the greatest ocean


s: He drives them out through gates of gold,


s: One lamb, though oft that path he mounts.


s: Its wondrous structure first was planned


s: Yet all things great that move thy mind,


s: For ages an edifice here has been found,


s: A horseman for hundreds of days may ride round,


s: Yet the end of his journey he ne'er can attain.


s: The might of the storm and of time it defies!


s: Neath the rainbow of Heaven stands free to the last,--


s: In the ocean it dips, and soars up to the skies.


s: It was not vain glory that bade its erection,


s: It serves as a refuge, a shield, a protection;


s: Its like on the earth never yet has been known


s: And yet by man's hand it is fashioned alone.


s: From a most strange and wondrous pair,--


s: 'Tis we who light the world's dark track,


s: Inflicts,--gives wealth, yet takes from none;


s: Has vanquished e'en the earth's wide round,


s: Yet war's fierce torch has ne'er inflamed;


s: At first I'm invisible, feeble, and mean,


s: When my sister, all-powerful, gives me her hand,


s: To the terrible lord of the world I expand.


s: Man of virtue has need;-into life with boldness he plunges,


s: Entering with fortune more sure into the hazardous strife;


s: But to woman one virtue suffices; it is ever shining


s: Lovingly forth to the heart; so let it shine to the eye!


s: Thee, too, I hail, thou smiling plain, and ye murmuring lindens,


s: Ay, and the chorus so glad, cradled on yonder high boughs;


s: Thee, too, peaceably azure, in infinite measure extending


s: Round the dusky-hued mount, over the forest so green,--


s: Round about me, who now from my chamber's confinement escaping,


s: And from vain frivolous talk, gladly seek refuge with thee.


s: Through me to quicken me runs the balsamic stream of thy breezes,


s: Freely the plain receives me,--with carpet far away reaching,


s: Over its friendly green wanders the pathway along.


s: Round me is humming the busy bee, and with pinion uncertain


s: Hovers the butterfly gay over the trefoil's red flower.


s: Fiercely the darts of the sun fall on me,--the zephyr is silent,


s: Only the song of the lark echoes athwart the clear air.


s: Night ambrosial circles me round; in the coolness so fragrant


s: Greets me a beauteous roof, formed by the beeches' sweet shade.


s: In the depths of the wood the landscape suddenly leaves me


s: And a serpentine path guides up my footsteps on high.


s: Suddenly gives back the day's glittering brightness to me!


s: Boundlessly seems the distance before my gaze to be stretching,


s: And in a purple-tinged hill terminates sweetly the world.


s: Giddily look I above, shudderingly look I below,


s: But between the infinite height and the infinite hollow


s: Safely the wanderer moves over a well-guarded path.


s: Smilingly past me are flying the banks all teeming with riches,


s: And the valley so bright boasts of its industry glad.


s: See how yonder hedgerows that sever the farmer's possessions


s: Have by Demeter been worked into the tapestried plain!


s: Kindly decree of the law, of the Deity mortal-sustaining,


s: Since from the brazen world love vanished forever away.


s: But in freer windings the measured pastures are traversed


s: (Now swallowed up in the wood, now climbing up to the hills)


s: By a glimmering streak, the highway that knits lands together;


s: Over the smooth-flowing stream, quietly glide on the rafts.


s: Joyous villages crown the stream, in the copse others vanish,


s: While from the back of the mount, others plunge wildly below.


s: Man still lives with the land in neighborly friendship united,


s: And round his sheltering roof calmly repose still his fields;


s: Trustingly climbs the vine high over the low-reaching window,


s: Thou and thy pastures with joy share in the limited law;


s: Bounded thy wishes all are by the harvest's peaceable circuit,


s: And thy lifetime is spent e'en as the task of the day!


s: But what suddenly hides the beauteous view? A strange spirit


s: Over the still-stranger plain spreads itself quickly afar--


s: Coyly separates now, what scarce had lovingly mingled,


s: And 'tis the like that alone joins itself on to the like.


s: Orders I see depicted; the haughty tribes of the poplars


s: Marshalled in regular pomp, stately and beauteous appear.


s: All gives token of rule and choice, and all has its meaning,--


s: 'Tis this uniform plan points out the Ruler to me.


s: Brightly the glittering domes in far-away distance proclaim him.


s: Out of the kernel of rocks rises the city's high wall.


s: Into the desert without, the fauns of the forest are driven,


s: But by devotion is lent life more sublime to the stone.


s: Man is brought into nearer union with man, and around him


s: Closer, more actively wakes, swifter moves in him the world.


s: See! the emulous forces in fiery conflict are kindled,


s: Down from the heavens descends the blessed troop of immortals,


s: In the bright circle divine making their festal abode;


s: Granting glorious gifts, they appear: and first of all, Ceres


s: Offers the gift of the plough, Hermes the anchor brings next,


s: Bacchus the grape, and Minerva the verdant olive-tree's branches,


s: Mother Cybele yokes to the pole of her chariot the lions,


s: And through the wide-open door comes as a citizen in.


s: Sacred stones! 'Tis from ye that proceed humanity's founders,


s: Morals and arts ye sent forth, e'en to the ocean's far isles.


s: 'Twas at these friendly gates that the law was spoken by sages;


s: In their Penates' defence, heroes rushed out to the fray.


s: On the high walls appeared the mothers, embracing their infants,


s: Looking after the march, till the distance 'twas lost.


s: Then in prayer they threw themselves down at the deities' altars,


s: "Traveller! when thou com'st to Sparta, proclaim to the people


s: That thou hast seen us lie here, as by the law we were bid."


s: In its possessions exulting, industry gladly is kindled.


s: And from the sedge of the stream smilingly signs the blue god.


s: Crushingly falls the axe on the tree, the Dryad sighs sadly;


s: Down from the crest of the mount plunges the thundering load.


s: Mulciber's anvil resounds with the measured stroke of the hammer;


s: Far in the roads the pilot calls, and the vessels are waiting,


s: That to the foreigner's land carry the produce of home;


s: Others gladly approach with the treasures of far-distant regions,


s: On to the pile the wealth of the earth is heaped by the merchant,


s: All that Arabia prepares, that the uttermost Thule produces,


s: High with heart-gladdening stores fills Amalthea her horn.


s: Fortune wedded to talent gives birth there to children immortal,


s: Suckled in liberty's arms, flourish the arts there of joy.


s: With the image of life the eyes by the sculptor are ravished,


s: And by the chisel inspired, speaks e'en the sensitive stone.


s: Skies artificial repose on slender Ionian columns,


s: And a Pantheon includes all that Olympus contains.


s: Light as the rainbow's spring through the air, as the dart from


s: Leaps the yoke of the bridge over the boisterous stream.


s: But in his silent chamber the thoughtful sage is projecting


s: Magical circles, and steals e'en on the spirit that forms,


s: Proves the force of matter, the hatreds and loves of the magnet,


s: Follows the tune through the air, follows through ether the ray,


s: Seeks the familiar law in chance's miracles dreaded,


s: Looks for the ne'er-changing pole in the phenomena's flight.


s: Bodies and voices are lent by writing to thought ever silent,


s: Over the centuries' stream bears it the eloquent page.


s: Then to the wondering gaze dissolves the cloud of the fancy,


s: And the vain phantoms of night yield to the dawning of day.


s: Eagerly cast off the bonds Nature divine had imposed.


s: Into infinity whirls him,--the coasts soon vanish before him,


s: High on the mountainous waves rocks all-dismasted the bark;


s: Under the clouds are hid the steadfast stars of the chariot,


s: Naught now remains,--in the breast even the god goes astray.


s: Truth disappears from language, from life all faith and all honor


s: Into the heart's most trusty bond, and into love's secrets,


s: Presses the sycophant base, tearing the friend from the friend.


s: Treason on innocence leers, with looks that seek to devour,


s: And the fell slanderer's tooth kills with its poisonous bite.


s: In the dishonored bosom, thought is now venal, and love, too,


s: Scatters abroad to the winds, feelings once god-like and free.


s: All thy holy symbols, O truth, deceit has adopted,


s: And has e'en dared to pollute Nature's own voices so fair,


s: That the craving heart in the tumult of gladness discovers;


s: True sensations are now mute and can scarcely be heard.


s: Justice boasts at the tribune, and harmony vaunts in the cottage,


s: Years together, ay, centuries long, may the mummy continue,


s: And the deception endure, apeing the fulness of life.


s: Until Nature awakes, and with hands all-brazen and heavy


s: 'Gainst the hollow-formed pile time and necessity strikes.


s: Like a tigress, who, bursting the massive grating iron,


s: Of her Numidian wood suddenly, fearfully thinks,--


s: So with the fury of crime and anguish, humanity rises


s: Hoping nature, long-lost in the town's ashes, to find.


s: Oh then open, ye walls, and set the captive at freedom


s: To the long desolate plains let him in safety return!


s: But where am I? The path is now hid, declivities rugged


s: Bar, with their wide-yawning gulfs, progress before and behind.


s: Now far behind me is left the gardens' and hedges' sure escort,


s: Every trace of man's hand also remains far behind.


s: Only the matter I see piled up, whence life has its issue,


s: And the raw mass of basalt waits for a fashioning hand.


s: Down through its channel of rock the torrent roaringly rushes,


s: Angrily forcing a path under the roots of the trees.


s: All is here wild and fearfully desolate. Naught but the eagle


s: Echoes, however remote, marking man's pleasures and pains.


s: Am I in truth, then, alone? Within thine arms, on thy bosom,


s: Nature, I lie once again!--Ah, and 'twas only a dream


s: Purer my life I receive again from thine altar unsullied,--


s: Purer receive the bright glow felt by my youth's hopeful days.


s: Ever the will is changing its aim and its rule, while forever,


s: In a still varying form, actions revolve round themselves.


s: But in enduring youth, in beauty ever renewing.


s: Kindly Nature, with grace thou dost revere the old law!


s: Ever the same, for the man in thy faithful hands thou preservest


s: Races, near and remote, in harmony wander together,


s: See, even Homer's own sun looks on us, too, with a smile!


s: "Vivos voco--Mortuos plango--Fulgura frango."


s: The praise that man gives to the master must buy.--


s: But the blessing withal must descend from on high!


s: What strength can work when labor wills;


s: Pour quick, that the fluid that feeds the bell


s: May flow in the right course glib and well.


s: For perfect and pure we the metal must keep,


s: That its voice may be perfect, and pure, and deep.


s: Storms through loud life's tumultuous pleasures,


s: With pilgrim staff the wide world measures;


s: Again seeks, stranger-like, the father-home.


s: Tears, strange till then, his eyes bedim;


s: O love, the beautiful and brief! O prime,


s: Glory, and verdure, of life's summer time!


s: If--(happy and welcome indeed were the sign!)


s: If the hard and the ductile united combine.


s: For still where the strong is betrothed to the weak,


s: And the stern in sweet marriage is blent with the meek,


s: Rings the concord harmonious, both tender and strong


s: The heart to the heart flows in one, love-delighted;


s: Illusion is brief, but repentance is long.


s: Then flows in a current the gear and the gain,


s: And the garners are filled with the gold of the grain,


s: Now a yard to the court, now a wing to the centre!


s: Locks the chest and the wardrobe, with lavender smelling,


s: And the hum of the spindle goes quick through the dwelling;


s: And she hoards in the presses, well polished and full,


s: The snow of the linen, the shine of the wool;


s: Blends the sweet with the good, and from care and endeavor


s: Proud the boast the proud lips breathe:--


s: What chain so strong, what girth so great,


s: What vapor, what vapor--God help us!--has risen?--


s: Ha! the flame like a torrent leaps forth from its prison!


s: When from their chain its wild wings go,


s: The bell shrills its voice to the crowd!


s: It is not the daylight that fills with its flood


s: And the air like the stream from the furnace glows.


s: Beams are crackling--posts are shrinking


s: And the beast (the black ruin yet smouldering under)


s: Yells the howl of its pain and its ghastly wonder!


s: The face of the night is as clear as day!


s: And the flood, as a beast on the prey that it hounds


s: With a roar on the breast of the element bounds.


s: Through the barns and garners it crackles and streams!


s: As if they would rend up the earth from its roots,


s: Wearied out and despairing, man bows to their strength!


s: With an idle gaze sees their wrath consume,


s: In the blank voids that cheerful casements were,


s: And through the ruin, blackening in its shroud


s: Peers, as it flits, the melancholy cloud.


s: One human glance of grief upon the grave


s: The loiterer takes--then turns him to depart,


s: And grasps the wanderer's staff and mans his heart


s: One blessing more than all it reft--it leaves,


s: The faces that he loves!--He counts them o'er,


s: See--not one look is missing from that store!


s: And still with our hope must be mingled the fear--


s: And, ev'n now, while we speak, the mishap may be near!


s: And turn to blessings watched by heaven!


s: Guiding with dirge-note--solemn, sad, and slow,


s: To the last home earth's weary wanderers know.


s: Whom the dark prince of shadows leads benighted,


s: From that dear arm where oft she hung delighted


s: The care--the watch--the face--the mother--


s: And the vesper-bell lulling the earth into peace,


s: If the master still toil, chimes the workman's release!


s: Called the wild man from waste and wold.


s: For naught its power to strength can teach,


s: Who works--gives blessings and commands;


s: Your footfalls, peace and concord sweet!


s: Now the sweet heaven, when day doth leave


s: Limns its soft rose-hues on the veil of eve;


s: Shall the fierce war-brand tossing in the gale,


s: From town and hamlet shake the horrent glare!


s: For not till we shatter the wall of its cell


s: Can we lift from its darkness and bondage the bell.


s: There breaks the mould before the season;


s: Through street, hall, palace, roars the flood,


s: They hound--they rend--they mangle there--


s: No torch, though lit from heaven, illumes


s: And even the scutcheon, clear-graven, shall tell


s: That the art of a master has fashioned the bell!


s: For which the master sought to frame her--


s: Like those bright hosts in yonder sphere,


s: Who, while they move, their Maker praise,


s: That earth no life which earth has known


s: Fair bell to our city bode joy and increase,


s: And oh, may thy first sound be hallowed to peace!


s: 'Tis thus that song's bright waters pour


s: On feeling's scales that trembling sway.


s: Mute are the thoughtless sounds of mirth,


s: Whilst music's charms still linger here,


s: All strange and false conceits expelling,


s: "Give me only a fragment of earth beyond the earth's limits,"--


s: So the godlike man said,--"and I will move it with ease."


s: Only give me permission to leave myself for one moment,


s: And without any delay I will engage to be yours.


s: To garden the earth with the roses of heaven!


s: All blessed, she linketh the loves in their choir


s: In the veil of the graces her beauty concealing,


s: She tends on each altar that's hallowed to feeling,


s: But woman with looks that can charm and enchain,


s: Lureth back at her beck the wild truant again,


s: In the home of the mother her modest abode,


s: And modest the manners by Nature bestowed


s: Bruised and worn, but fiercely breasting,


s: But woman at peace with all being, reposes,


s: And seeks from the moment to gather the roses--


s: Ah! richer than he, though his soul reigneth o'er


s: Alive, as the wind-harp, how lightly soever


s: If wooed by the zephyr, to music will quiver,


s: All, tender one! still at the shadow of grieving,


s: How quiver the chords--how thy bosom is heaving--


s: How trembles thy glance through the tear!


s: But woman, the soft one, persuasively prayeth--


s: Of the life  that she charmeth, the sceptre she swayeth;


s: The discord whose bell for its victims is gaping,


s: And blending awhile the forever escaping,


s: We speak with the lip, and we dream in the soul,


s: And our days, the meanwhile, to that golden goal


s: Now the world becomes old, now again it is young,


s: But "The better" 's forever the word on the tongue.


s: At the threshold of life hope leads us in--


s: Though the best of its charms may with youth begin,


s: Seeking to find his home, Odysseus crosses each water;


s: Through Charybdis so dread; ay, and through Scylla's wild yells,


s: And at length, as he sleeps, to Ithaca's coast fate conducts him;


s: Oh thou degenerate child of the great and glorious mother,


s: Who with the Romans' strong might couplest the Tyrians' deceit!


s: Sure of the spring that warms them into birth,


s: The golden seeds thou trustest to the earth;


s: And dost thou doubt the eternal spring sublime,


s: For deeds--the seeds which wisdom sows in time.


s: Oh, nobly shone the fearful cross upon your mail afar,


s: When Rhodes and Acre hailed your might, O lions of the war!


s: Yet on your forms the apron seemed a nobler armor far,


s: When by the sick man's bed ye stood, O lions of the war!


s: The twofold branches of the palm--humility and power.


s: Where sails the ship?--It leads the Tyrian forth


s: For the rich amber of the liberal north.


s: Be kind, ye seas--winds, lend your gentlest wing,


s: May in each creek sweet wells restoring spring!--


s: To you, ye gods, belong the merchant!--o'er


s: The waves his sails the wide world's goods explore;


s: And, all the while, wherever waft the gales


s: The wide world's good sails with him as he sails!


s: Once for the sceptre of Germany, fought with Bavarian Louis


s: Frederick, of Hapsburg descent, both being called to the throne.


s: But the envious fortune of war delivered the Austrian


s: Into the hands of the foe, who overcame him in fight.


s: With the throne he purchased his freedom, pledging his honor


s: For the victor to draw 'gainst his own people his sword;


s: Deeply moved, his foe embraced him,--and from thenceforward


s: As a friend with a friend, pledged they the cup at the feast;


s: Arm-in-arm, the princes on one couch slumbered together.


s: While a still bloodier hate severed the nations apart.


s: 'Gainst the army of Frederick Louis now went, and behind him


s: Left the foe he had fought, over Bavaria to watch.


s: "Ay, it is true! 'Tis really true! I have it in writing!"


s: Thus did the Pontifex cry, when he first heard of the news.


s: See in the babe two loveliest flowers united--yet in truth,


s: While in the bud they seem the same--the virgin and the youth!


s: But loosened is the gentle bond, no longer side by side--


s: From holy shame the fiery strength will soon itself divide.


s: Permit the youth to sport, and still the wild desire to chase,


s: For, but when sated, weary strength returns to seek the grace.


s: Yet in the bud, the double flowers the future strife begin,


s: How precious all--yet naught can still the longing heart within.


s: In ripening charms the virgin bloom to woman shape hath grown,


s: She flies from man as from a foe, and hates before she loves!


s: Inviting glory calls him forth, and grasps the troubled heart:--


s: Protect thy work, O Nature now! one from the other flies,


s: Till thou unitest each at last that for the other sighs.


s: There art thou, mighty one! where'er the discord darkest frown,


s: And through the sweet and veiled air in beauty comes the star.


s: O virgin! now what instinct heaves thy bosom with the sigh?


s: O youth! and wherefore steals the tear into thy dreaming eye?


s: Alas! they seek in vain within the charm around bestowed,


s: The tender fruit is ripened now, and bows to earth its load.


s: And restless goes the youth to feed his heart upon its fire,


s: All, where the gentle breath to cool the flame of young desire!


s: O heavenly love!--'tis thy sweet task the human flowers to bind,


s: For ay apart, and yet by thee forever intertwined!


s: Say, where is now that glorious race, where now are the singers


s: Who, with the accents of life, listening nations enthralled,


s: Sung down from heaven the gods, and sung mankind up to heaven,


s: And who the spirit bore up high on the pinions of song?


s: Ah! the singers still live; the actions only are wanting,


s: And to awake the glad harp, only a welcoming ear.


s: Happy bards of a happy world! Your life-teeming accents


s: Flew round from mouth unto mouth, gladdening every race.


s: And with the listener's sense, nourished the singer the glow--


s: Nourished and cleansed it,--fortunate one! for whom in the voices


s: And to whom from without appeared, in life, the great godhead,


s: Whom the bard of these days scarcely can feel in his breast.


s: 'Twas not my nectar made thy strength divine,


s: But 'twas thy strength which made my nectar thine!


s: Through whose breast their power diffuses,--


s: When from thee my fleeting shadow moved?


s: Say,--have I not lived,--have I not loved?


s: Only whilst they loved they lingered here.


s: There, where naught united souls can sever,


s: And thou, too, wilt find us in yon heaven,


s: When thy love with our love can compare;


s: There my father dwells, his sins forgiven,--


s: For as each one metes, to him 'tis meted;


s: Faith is kept in those blest regions yonder


s: With the feelings true that ne'er decay.


s: Venture thou to dream, then, and to wander


s: Noblest thoughts oft lie in childlike play.


s: And now before me thou standest,--canst touch my altar so holy,--


s: Tear forever the garland of Homer, and number the fathers


s: Of the immortal work, that through all time will survive!


s: Yet it has but one mother, and bears that mother's own feature,


s: 'Tis thy features it bears,--Nature,--thy features eterne!


s: What wonder this?--we ask the lympid well,


s: O earth! of thee--and from thy solemn womb


s: What yieldest thou?--is there life in the abyss--


s: Returns the past, awakening from the tomb?


s: And built anew the town of Dorian Hercules!


s: House upon house--its silent halls once more


s: Opes the broad portico!--Oh, haste and fill


s: Again those halls with life!--Oh, pour along


s: Through the seven-vista'd theatre the throng!


s: Where are ye, mimes?--Come forth, the steel prepare


s: Ye choral Furies, with your dismal chant!


s: The arch of triumph!--whither leads it?--still


s: Where the majestic image? Lictors, where


s: Your solemn fasces?--Place upon his throne


s: The Praetor--here the witness lead, and there


s: The clear streets glitter in the quiet day--


s: The footpath by the doors winding its lifeless way!


s: Wears still the dear familiar smile of home!


s: Open the doors--the shops--on dreary night


s: Let lusty day laugh down in jocund light!


s: See the trim benches ranged in order!--See


s: With their clear colors. But the artist, where!


s: Sure but this instant he hath laid aside


s: Pencil and colors!--Glittering on the eye


s: Swell the rich fruits, and bloom the flowers!--See all


s: Art's gentle wreaths still fresh upon the wall!


s: Here the arch Cupid slyly seems to glide


s: By with bloom-laden basket. There the shapes


s: Of genii press with purpling feet the grapes,


s: Here springs the wild Bacchante to the dance,


s: And there she sleeps [while that voluptuous trance


s: Eyes the sly faun with never-sated glance]


s: Hovering--the Thyrsus plies.--Hurrah!--away she speeds!


s: Come--come, why loiter ye?--Here, here, how fair


s: The goodly vessels still! Girls, hither turn,


s: Fill from the fountain the Etruscan urn!


s: On the winged sphinxes see the tripod.--


s: Quick--quick, ye slaves, come--fire!--the hearth prepare!


s: Ha! wilt thou sell?--this coin shall pay thee--this,


s: Fresh from the mint of mighty Titus!--Lo!


s: Here lie the scales, and not a weight we miss


s: So--bring the light! The delicate lamp!--what toil


s: Shaped thy minutest grace!--quick pour the oil!


s: Yonder the fairy chest!--come, maid, behold


s: The bridegroom's gifts--the armlets--they are gold,


s: Into the odorous bath--lo! unguents still--


s: And still the crystal vase the arts for beauty fill!


s: But where the men of old--perchance a prize


s: And see ev'n still the tokens of their toil--


s: The earth, with faithful watch, has hoarded all!


s: Still stand the mute penates in the hall;


s: Back to his haunts returns each ancient god.


s: Why absent only from their ancient stand


s: The priests?--waves Hermes his Caducean rod,


s: And the winged victory struggles from the hand.


s: Kindle the flame--behold the altar there!


s: Long hath the god been worshipless--to prayer.


s: Even the beauteous must die! This vanquishes men and immortals;


s: But of the Stygian god moves not the bosom of steel.


s: Once and once only could love prevail on the ruler of shadows,


s: And on the threshold, e'en then, sternly his gift he recalled.


s: Venus could never heal the wounds of the beauteous stripling,


s: That the terrible boar made in his delicate skin;


s: Nor could his mother immortal preserve the hero so godlike,


s: When at the west gate of Troy, falling, his fate he fulfilled.


s: But she arose from the ocean with all the daughters of Nereus,


s: And o'er her glorified son raised the loud accents of woe.


s: See! where all the gods and goddesses yonder are weeping,


s: That the beauteous must fade, and that the perfect must die.


s: Even a woe-song to be in the mouth of the loved ones is glorious,


s: Scorn laid thee prostrate in the deepest dust;


s: Wit wages ceaseless war on all that's fair,--


s: The bosom's treasures it would make its prey,--


s: Besieges fancy,--dims e'en faith's pure ray.


s: Yet issuing like thyself from humble line,


s: And to the stars eternal soars with thee.


s: Around thy brow a glory she hath thrown;


s: The heart 'twas formed thee,--ever thou'lt live on!


s: The world delights whate'er is bright to stain,


s: And in the dust to lay the glorious low;


s: Yet fear not! noble bosoms still remain,


s: That for the lofty, for the radiant glow


s: Let Momus serve to fill the booth with mirth;


s: A nobler mind loves forms of nobler worth.


s: "Teach me," he said, "the art that won thy fame;--


s: The godlike art which gives such boons to toil,


s: And showers such fruit upon thy native soil;--


s: The godlike art that girt the town when all


s: Rome's vengeance burst in thunder on the wall!"


s: "Thou call'st art godlike--it is so, in truth,


s: And was," replied the master to the youth,


s: "Ere yet its secrets were applied to use--


s: Ere yet it served beleaguered Syracuse:--


s: Ask'st thou from art, but what the art is worth?


s: The fruit?--for fruit go cultivate the earth.--


s: See how, like lightest waves at play, the airy dancers fleet;


s: And scarcely feels the floor the wings of those harmonious feet.


s: Ob, are they flying shadows from their native forms set free?


s: Or phantoms in the fairy ring that summer moonbeams see?


s: As, by the gentle zephyr blown, some light mist flees in air,


s: As skiffs that skim adown the tide, when silver waves are fair,


s: So sports the docile footstep to the heave of that sweet measure,


s: Now breaking through the woven chain of the entangled dance,


s: From where the ranks the thickest press, a bolder pair advance,


s: The path they leave behind them lost--wide open the path beyond,


s: The way unfolds or closes up as by a magic wand.


s: See now, they vanish from the gaze in wild confusion blended;


s: All, in sweet chaos whirled again, that gentle world is ended!


s: No!--disentangled glides the knot, the gay disorder ranges--


s: The only system ruling here, a grace that ever changes.


s: For ay destroyed--for ay renewed, whirls on that fair creation;


s: And yet one peaceful law can still pervade in each mutation.


s: And what can to the reeling maze breathe harmony and vigor,


s: And give an order and repose to every gliding figure?


s: That each a ruler to himself doth but himself obey,


s: That threadeth with a golden clue the intricate employment,


s: The stream of music borne aloft from yonder choral spheres?


s: And feel'st thou not the measure which eternal Nature keeps?


s: The whirling dance forever held in yonder azure deeps?


s: The suns that wheel in varying maze?--That music thou discernest?


s: Looks down in love, whose earliest sleep the bright


s: Idalia cradles, whose young lips the rod


s: Of eloquent Hermes kindles--to whose eyes,


s: Scarce wakened yet, Apollo steals in light,


s: While on imperial brows Jove sets the seal of might!


s: Godlike the lot ordained for him to share,


s: He wins the garland ere he runs the race;


s: He learns life's wisdom ere he knows life's care,


s: And, without labor vanquished, smiles the grace.


s: Great is the man, I grant, whose strength of mind,


s: Self-shapes its objects and subdues the fates--


s: Virtue subdues the fates, but cannot blind


s: The fickle happiness, whose smile awaits


s: Those who scarce seek it; nor can courage earn


s: What the grace showers not from her own free urn!


s: From aught unworthy, the determined will


s: Can guard the watchful spirit--there it ends


s: The all that's glorious from the heaven descends;


s: As some sweet mistress loves us, freely still


s: Come the spontaneous gifts of heaven!--Above


s: Favor rules Jove, as it below rules love!


s: The immortals have their bias!--Kindly they


s: See the bright locks of youth enamored play,


s: And where the glad one goes, shed gladness round the way.


s: It is not they who boast the best to see,


s: Hath oft but shone the brightest on the blind;--


s: And their choice spirit found its calm recess


s: No law can call their free steps to our side.


s: Him whom he loves, the sire of men and gods


s: (Selected from the marvelling multitude)


s: Bears on his eagle to his bright abodes;


s: And showers, with partial hand and lavish, down,


s: The minstrel's laurel or the monarch's crown!


s: Before the fortune-favored son of earth,


s: Apollo walks--and, with his jocund mirth,


s: The heart-enthralling smiler of the skies


s: For him gray Neptune smooths the pliant wave--


s: Harmless the waters for the ship that bore


s: The Caesar and his fortunes to the shore!


s: Charmed at his feet the crouching lion lies,


s: To him his back the murmuring dolphin gave;


s: His soul is born a sovereign o'er the strife--


s: Where'er his presence in its calm has trod,


s: It charms--it sways as solve diviner God.


s: Scorn not the fortune-favored, that to him


s: The light-won victory by the gods is given,


s: Or that, as Paris, from the strife severe,


s: The Venus draws her darling--Whom the heaven


s: And not the man upon whose eyes, with dim


s: And baleful night, sits fate. Achaia boasts,


s: That Vulcan wrought for him the shield and sword--


s: That round the mortal hovered all the hosts


s: Of all Olympus--that his wrath to grace,


s: The best and bravest of the Grecian race


s: Untimely slaughtered, with resentful ghosts


s: Awed the pale people of the Stygian coasts!


s: Scorn not the darlings of the beautiful,


s: If without labor they life's blossoms cull;


s: If, like the stately lilies, they have won


s: A crown for which they neither toiled nor spun;--


s: If without merit, theirs be beauty, still


s: Thy sense, unenvying, with the beauty fill.


s: To share, by simply seeing, their delight.


s: Heaven breathes the soul into the minstrel's breast,


s: But with that soul he animates the rest;


s: The god inspires the mortal--but to God,


s: In turn, the mortal lifts thee from the sod.


s: Oh, not in vain to heaven the bard is dear;


s: Holy himself--he hallows those who hear!


s: The busy mart let justice still control,


s: Weighing the guerdon to the toil!--What then?


s: Flushing with unsought light the cheeks of men.


s: Where is no miracle, why there no bliss!


s: Grow, change, and ripen all that mortal be,


s: Shapened from form to form, by toiling time;


s: No gradual changes to their glorious prime,


s: No childhood dwarfs them, and no age has worn.--


s: Like heaven's, each earthly Venus on the sight


s: Comes, a dark birth, from out an endless sea;


s: Like the first Pallas, in maturest might,


s: Cannot I ever attain to true peace, excepting through knowledge,


s: Or is the system upheld only by fortune and law?


s: Must I distrust the gently-warning impulse, the precept


s: That thou, Nature, thyself hast in my bosom impressed,


s: Till the schools have affixed to the writ eternal their signet,


s: Till a mere formula's chain binds down the fugitive soul?


s: Must I travel the darksome road? The thought makes me tremble;


s: Yet I will travel that road, if 'tis to truth and to right."


s: Friend, hast thou heard of the golden age? Full many a story


s: Poets have sung in its praise, simply and touchingly sung--


s: Of the time when the holy still wandered over life's pathways,--


s: When with a maidenly shame every sensation was veiled,--


s: When the mighty law that governs the sun in his orbit,


s: And that, concealed in the bud, teaches the point how to move,


s: When necessity's silent law, the steadfast, the changeless,


s: Stirred up billows more free, e'en in the bosom of man,--


s: When the sense, unerring, and true as the hand of the dial,


s: Pointed only to truth, only to what was eternal?


s: Then no profane one was seen, then no initiate was met with,


s: And what as living was felt was not then sought 'mongst the dead;


s: Equally hidden the source whence it to gladden us sprang;


s: But that happy period has vanished! And self-willed presumption


s: Nature's godlike repose now has forever destroyed.


s: Feelings polluted the voice of the deities echo no longer,


s: Save in the silenter self, the listening soul cannot find it,


s: There does the mystical word watch o'er the meaning divine;


s: If thou, happy one, never hast lost the angel that guards thee,


s: Forfeited never the kind warnings that instinct holds forth;


s: If in thy modest eye the truth is still purely depicted;


s: If in thine innocent breast clearly still echoes its call;


s: If in thy tranquil mind the struggles of doubt still are silent,


s: If they will surely remain silent forever as now;


s: If by the conflict of feelings a judge will ne'er be required;


s: If in its malice thy heart dims not the reason so clear,


s: Oh, then, go thy way in all thy innocence precious!


s: Thou but observest not the god ruling within thine own breast,


s: Not the might of the signet that bows all spirits before thee;


s: When the column of light on the waters is glassed,


s: As blent in one glow seem the shine and the stream;


s: But wave after wave through the glory has passed,


s: Just catches, and flies as it catches, the beam


s: So honors but mirror on mortals their light;


s: Not the man but the place that he passes is bright.


s: Hast thou the infant seen that yet, unknowing of the love


s: Which warms and cradles, calmly sleeps the mother's heart above--


s: And glimmering on the conscious eye--the world in glory breaks?


s: And hast thou seen the mother there her anxious vigil keep?


s: Buying with love that never sleeps the darling's happy sleep?


s: All self-sufficing wilt thou from that lovely circle stand--


s: That creature still to creature links in faith's familiar band?


s: I can recognize only as such, the one that enables


s: Each to think what is right,--but that he thinks so, cares not.


s: Three words will I name thee--around and about,


s: From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee;


s: But they had not their birth in the being without,


s: And the heart, not the lip, must their oracle be!


s: And all worth in the man shall forever be o'er


s: When in those three words he believes no more.


s: Man is made free!--Man by birthright is free,


s: Though the tyrant may deem him but born for his tool.


s: Whatever the shout of the rabble may be--


s: Whatever the ranting misuse of the fool--


s: Still fear not the slave, when he breaks from his chain,


s: For the man made a freeman grows safe in his gain.


s: And virtue is more than a shade or a sound,


s: And man may her voice, in this being, obey;


s: And though ever he slip on the stony ground,


s: To the science of good though the wise may be blind,


s: Yet the practice is plain to the childlike mind.


s: And a God there is!--over space, over time,


s: While the human will rocks, like a reed, to and fro,


s: Lives the will of the holy--a purpose sublime,


s: Changing and shifting the all we inherit,


s: But changeless through all one immutable spirit


s: Hold fast the three words of belief--though about


s: From the lip to the lip, full of meaning, they flee;


s: Yet they take not their birth from the being without--


s: But a voice from within must their oracle be;


s: And never all worth in the man can be o'er,


s: Till in those three words he believes no more.


s: Three errors there are, that forever are found


s: On the lips of the good, on the lips of the best;


s: But empty their meaning and hollow their sound--


s: And slight is the comfort they bring to the breast.


s: The fruits of existence escape from the clasp


s: Of the seeker who strives but those shadows to grasp--


s: So long as man dreams of some age in this life


s: When the right and the good will all evil subdue;


s: For the right and the good lead us ever to strife,


s: And wherever they lead us the fiend will pursue.


s: And (till from the earth borne, and stifled at length)


s: The earth that he touches still gifts him with strength!


s: So long as man fancies that fortune will live,


s: Like a bride with her lover, united with worth;


s: For her favors, alas! to the mean she will give--


s: Where the lands of her birthright immortally are!


s: So long as man dreams that, to mortals a gift,


s: The truth in her fulness of splendor will shine;


s: The veil of the goddess no earth-born may lift,


s: And all we can learn is--to guess and divine!


s: Dost thou seek, in a dogma, to prison her form?


s: The spirit flies forth on the wings of the storm!


s: O, noble soul! fly from delusions like these,


s: More heavenly belief be it thine to adore;


s: Where the ear never hearkens, the eye never sees,


s: Meet the rivers of beauty and truth evermore!


s: Not without thee the streams--there the dull seek them;--No!


s: Look within thee--behold both the fount and the flow!


s: Mighty art thou, because of the peaceful charms of thy presence;


s: That which the silent does not, never the boastful can do.


s: Vigor in man I expect, the law in its honors maintaining,


s: But, through the graces alone, woman e'er rules or should rule.


s: No real queen exists but the womanly beauty of woman;


s: Where it appears, it must rule; ruling because it appears!


s: Two are the pathways by which mankind can to virtue mount upward;


s: 'Tis by exertion the happy obtain her, the suffering by patience.


s: Since thou readest in her what thou thyself hast there written,


s: And, to gladden the eye, placest her wonders in groups;--


s: Thus the astronomer draws his figures over the heavens,


s: So that he may with more ease traverse the infinite space,


s: Knitting together e'en suns that by Sirius-distance are parted,


s: Making them join in the swan and in the horns of the bull.


s: But because the firmament shows him its glorious surface,


s: Can he the spheres' mystic dance therefore decipher aright?


s: Steer on, bold sailor--Wit may mock thy soul that sees the land,


s: And hopeless at the helm may droop the weak and weary hand,


s: Yet ever--ever to the West, for there the coast must lie,


s: And dim it dawns, and glimmering dawns before thy reason's eye;


s: Yea, trust the guiding God--and go along the floating grave,


s: Though hid till now--yet now behold the New World o'er the wave!


s: With genius Nature ever stands in solemn union still,


s: And ever what the one foretells the other shall fulfil.


s: For warmth and light a blessing both to be,


s: Feel as the enthusiast--as the world-wise see.


s: With tongue on all things well conversing;


s: The what can charm, the what can please,


s: Their raptures so transport the college,


s: From the small kernel's undiscerned repose


s: The oak that lords it o'er the forest grows.


s: With jest and sweet discourse she goes unto the rock sublime,


s: Where halts above the eternal sea  the shuddering child of time.


s: The other here, resolved and mute and solemn, claspeth thee,


s: And bears thee in her giant arms across the fearful sea.


s: Never admit the one alone!--Give not the gentle guide


s: Thy honor--nor unto the stern thy happiness confide!


s: Time flies on restless pinions--constant never.


s: Be constant--and thou chainest time forever.


s: that which through lifetime hath helped me,


s: Meekly and gratefully now, here I suspend in his shrine.


s: Millions busily toil, that the human race may continue;


s: But by only a few is propagated our kind.


s: But if one only can blossom, that one is able to scatter


s: Even a bright living world, filled with creations eterne.


s: Nowhere in the organic or sensitive world ever kindles


s: Novelty, save in the flower, noblest creation of life.


s: Do what is good, and humanity's godlike plant thou wilt nourish;


s: Plan what is fair, and thou'lt strew seeds of the godlike around.


s: Even the moral world its nobility boasts--vulgar natures


s: Reckon by that which they do; noble, by that which they are.


s: If thou anything hast, let me have it,--I'll pay what is proper;


s: If thou anything art, let us our spirits exchange.


s: E'en by the hand of the wicked can truth be working with vigor;


s: But the vessel is filled by what is beauteous alone.


s: Tell me all that thou knowest, and I will thankfully hear it!


s: But wouldst thou give me thyself,--let me, my friend, be excused!


s: Thee would I choose as my teacher and friend. Thy living example


s: Teaches me,--thy teaching word wakens my heart unto life.


s: Was it always as now? This race I truly can't fathom.


s: Nothing is young but old age; youth, alas! only is old.


s: What I had been without thee, I know not--yet, to my sorrow


s: See I what, without thee, hundreds and thousands now are.


s: Ever strive for the whole; and if no whole thou canst make thee,


s: Join, then, thyself to some whole, as a subservient limb!


s: Let none resemble another; let each resemble the highest!


s: How can that happen? let each be all complete in itself.


s: That is the only true secret, which in the presence of all men


s: Lies, and surrounds thee for ay, but which is witnessed by none.


s: Wouldst thou know thyself, observe the actions of others.


s: Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.


s: That shortsighted one sees but the bank that from thee is flying,


s: If the eye be healthy, it sees from without the Creator;


s: And if the heart, then within doubtless it mirrors the world.


s: It is enough to true zeal, if what is existing be perfect;


s: False zeal always would find finished perfection at once.


s: Majesty of the nature of man! In crowds shall I seek thee?


s: 'Tis with only a few that thou hast made thine abode.


s: Only a few ever count; the rest are but blanks of no value,


s: And the prizes are hid 'neath the vain stir that they make.


s: Why are taste and genius so seldom met with united?


s: Taste of strength is afraid,--genius despises the rein.


s: "I Have sacrificed all," thou sayest, "that man I might succor;


s: Vain the attempt; my reward was persecution and hate."


s: Shall I tell thee, my friend, how I to humor him manage?


s: Trust the proverb! I ne'er have been deceived by it yet.


s: Thou canst not sufficiently prize humanity's value;


s: Let it be coined in deed as it exists in thy breast.


s: But for rain and for dew, for the general welfare of mortals,


s: Leave thou Heaven to care, friend, as before, so e'en now.


s: I have a heartfelt aversion for crime,--a twofold aversion,


s: Since 'tis the reason why man prates about virtue so much.


s: Oh, how infinite, how unspeakably great, are the heavens!


s: Yet by frivolity's hand downwards the heavens are pulled!


s: In the way that thou know'st the best woman;


s: Namely, my friend, that the world ever is silent of both.


s: Prate not to me so much of suns and of nebulous bodies;


s: Think ye Nature but great, in that she gives thee to count?


s: Which religion do I acknowledge? None that thou namest.


s: "None that I name? And why so?"--Why, for religion's own sake?


s: God alone sees the heart and therefore, since he alone sees it,


s: Be it our care that we, too, something that's worthy may see.


s: Dearly I love a friend; yet a foe I may turn to my profit;


s: Understanding, indeed, can repeat what already existed,--


s: That which Nature has built, after her she, too, can build.


s: Over Nature can reason build, but in vacancy only:


s: But thou, genius, alone, nature in nature canst form.


s: Many are good and wise; yet all for one only reckon,


s: For 'tis conception, alas, rules them, and not a fond heart.


s: But where creative beauty is ruling, there life and enjoyment


s: 'Tis the conceived alone, that thou, imitator, canst practise;


s: Food the conceived never is, save to the mind that conceives.


s: How does the genius make itself known? In the way that in nature


s: Shows the Creator himself,--e'en in the infinite whole.


s: Clear is the ether, and yet of depth that ne'er can be fathomed;


s: Seen by the eye, it remains evermore closed to the sense.


s: Men now seek to explore each thing from within and without too!


s: How canst thou make thy escape, Truth, from their eager pursuit?


s: Free from blemish to be, is the lowest of steps, and highest;


s: Weakness and greatness alone ever arrive at this point.


s: Life she received from fable; the schools deprived her of being,


s: Life creative again she has from reason received.


s: It has ever been so, my friend, and will ever remain so:


s: Weakness has rules for itself,--vigor is crowned with success.


s: Let the creative art breathe life, and the bard furnish spirit;


s: But the soul is expressed by Polyhymnia alone.


s: Let thy speech be to thee what the body is to the loving;


s: Beings it only can part,--beings it only can join.


s: Why can the living spirit be never seen by the spirit?


s: Soon as the soul 'gins to speak, then can the soul speak no more!


s: Other masters one always can tell by the words that they utter;


s: That which he wisely omits shows me the master of style.


s: Aphrodite preserves her beauty concealed by her girdle;


s: That which lends her her charms is what she covers--her shame.


s: Merely because thou hast made a good verse in a language poetic,


s: One which composes for thee, thou art a poet forsooth!


s: Dost thou desire the good in art? Of the good art thou worthy,


s: Which by a ne'er ceasing war 'gainst thee thyself is produced?


s: Which among the philosophies will be enduring? I know not,


s: But that philosophy's self ever may last is my hope.


s: Fame with the vulgar expires; but, Muse immortal, thou bearest


s: Those whom thou lovest, who love thee, into Mnemosyne's arms.


s: Trusty old Homer! to thee I confide the secret so tender;


s: For the raptures of love none but the bard should e'er know.


s: Only two virtues exist. Oh, would they were ever united!


s: Ever the good with the great, ever the great with the good!


s: Fear with his iron staff may urge the slave onward forever;


s: Rapture, do thou lead me on ever in roseate chains!


s: Enmity be between ye! Your union too soon is cemented;


s: Ye will but learn to know truth when ye divide in the search.


s: When the happy appear, I forget the gods in the heavens;


s: But before me they stand, when I the suffering see.


s: Giddily onward it bears thee with resistless impetuous billows;


s: Naught but the ocean and air seest thou before or behind.


s: In the hexameter rises the fountain's watery column,


s: In the pentameter sweet falling in melody down.


s: On a pedestal lofty the sculptor in triumph has raised me.


s: "Stand thou," spake he,--and I stand proudly and joyfully here.


s: Under me, over me, hasten the waters, the chariots; my builder


s: Kindly has suffered e'en me, over myself, too, to go!


s: Let the gate open stand, to allure the savage to precepts;


s: Let it the citizen lead into free nature with joy.


s: If thou seekest to find immensity here, thou'rt mistaken;


s: For my greatness is meant greater to make thee thyself!


s: I am rejoiced, worthy sirs, to find you in pleno assembled;


s: For I have come down below, seeking the one needful thing.


s: Quick to the point, my good friend! For the Jena Gazette comes


s: Even in hell,--so we know all that is passing above.


s: Cogito, ergo sum. I have thought, and therefore existence!


s: If the first be but true, then is the second one sure.


s: As I think, I exist. 'Tis good! But who always is thinking?


s: Oft I've existed e'en when I have been thinking of naught.


s: In the thing of all things dabble we, just as we are.


s: Just the reverse, say I. Besides myself there is nothing;


s: Everything else that there is is but a bubble to me.


s: Two kinds of things I allow to exist,--the world and the spirit;


s: Naught of others I know; even these signify one.


s: I know naught of the thing, and know still less of the spirit;


s: Both but appear unto me; yet no appearance they are.


s: I am I, and settle myself,--and if I then settle


s: Nothing to be, well and good--there's a nonentity formed.


s: I a real principle need,--one by which something is fixed.


s: Nothing is now to be found in the theoretical province;


s: If I but thought so! When people know no more sensible answer,


s: Into the conscience at once plunge they with desperate haste.


s: I have made use of my nose for years together to smell with;


s: Have I a right to my nose that can be legally proved?


s: Truly a delicate point! Yet the first possession appeareth


s: In thy favor to tell; therefore make use of it still!


s: Willingly serve I my friends; but, alas, I do it with pleasure;


s: Therefore I often am vexed that no true virtue I have.


s: "Give them to me! The kings' quarrel I sang!"--


s: "I, the fight near the vessels!"--"Hand me the puddings!


s: Each one, when seen by himself, is passably wise and judicious;


s: When they in corpore are, naught but a blockhead is seen.


s: Into the sieve we've been pouring for years,--


s: But the stone never warms,--nor does the sieve ever fill.


s: 'Tis thy Muse's delight to sing God's pity to mortals;


s: But, that they pitiful are,--is it a matter for song?


s: Wouldst thou give pleasure at once to the children of earth and


s: Draw the image of lust--adding the devil as well!


s: All, both in prose and in verse, in Germany fast is decaying;


s: Far behind us, alas, lieth the golden age now!


s: For by philosophers spoiled is our language--our logic by poets,


s: And no more common sense governs our passage through life.


s: From the aesthetic, to which she belongs, now virtue is driven,


s: And into politics forced, where she's a troublesome guest.


s: Where are we hastening now? If natural, dull we are voted,


s: And if we put on constraint, then the world calls us absurd.


s: Oh, thou joyous artlessness 'mongst the poor maidens of Leipzig,


s: Witty simplicity come,--come, then, to glad us again!


s: Comedy, oh repeat thy weekly visits so precious,


s: Sigismund, lover so sweet,--Mascarill, valet jocose!


s: Tragedy, full of salt and pungency epigrammatic,--


s: And thou, minuet-step of our old buskin preserved!


s: Philosophic romance, thou mannikin waiting with patience,


s: When, 'gainst the pruner's attack, Nature defendeth herself!


s: Ancient prose, oh return,--so nobly and boldly expressing


s: I, too, at length discerned great Hercules' energy mighty,--


s: Saw his shade. He himself was not, alas, to be seen.


s: Round him were heard, like the screaming of birds,


s: And, with the baying of dogs, barked dramaturgists around.


s: There stood the giant in all his terrors; his bow was extended,


s: And the bolt, fixed on the string, steadily aimed at the heart.


s: "What still hardier action, unhappy one, dost thou now venture,


s: Thus to descend to the grave of the departed souls here?"--


s: "'Tis to see Tiresias I come, to ask of the prophet


s: Where I the buskin of old, that now has vanished, may find?"


s: "If they believe not in Nature, nor the old Grecian, but vainly


s: Wilt thou convey up from hence that dramaturgy to them."


s: "There is now no more of that tragic bustle, for scarcely


s: Once in a year on the boards moves thy great soul, harness-clad."


s: "But do ye also exhibit the graceful dance of Thalia,


s: Joined to the solemn step with which Melpomene moves?"--


s: "Neither! For naught we love but what is Christian and moral;


s: And what is popular, too, homely, domestic, and plain."


s: "No! there is naught to be seen there but parsons,


s: Secretaries perchance, ensigns, and majors of horse."


s: "Whence do ye, then, derive the destiny, great and gigantic,


s: Which raises man up on high, e'en when it grinds him to dust?"--


s: "All mere nonsense! Ourselves, our worthy acquaintances also,


s: And our sorrows and wants, seek we, and find we, too, here."


s: "But all this ye possess at home both apter and better,--


s: Ever is destiny blind,--ever is righteous the bard."


s: "Then one meets on your stage your own contemptible nature,


s: While 'tis in vain one seeks there nature enduring and great?"


s: "There the poet is host, and act the fifth is the reckoning;


s: And, when crime becomes sick, virtue sits down to the feast!"


s: True, as becometh a Switzer, I watch over Germany's borders;


s: But the light-footed Gaul jumps o'er the suffering stream.


s: Many a year have I clasped in my arms the Lorrainian maiden;


s: But our union as yet ne'er has been blest with a son.


s: Round me are dwelling the falcon-eyed race, the Phaeacian people;


s: Ay, it is true that my castles are crumbling; yet, to my comfort,


s: Poor are my banks, it is true; but yet my soft-flowing waters


s: Many immortal lays here, borne by the current along.


s: Flat is my shore and shallow my current; alas, all my writers,


s: Both in prose and in verse, drink far too deep of its stream!


s: All ye others speak only a jargon; 'mongst Germany's rivers


s: None speak German but me; I but in Misnia alone.


s: Ramler once gave me language,--my Caesar a subject; and therefore


s: Nothing, alas, can be said about me; I really can't furnish


s: Matter enough to the Muse e'en for an epigram, small.


s: I for a long time have been a hypochondriacal subject;


s: I but flow on because it has my habit been long.


s: We would gladly remain in the lands that own--as their masters;


s: Soft their yoke ever is, and all their burdens are light.


s: I, to salt the archbishopric, come from Juvavia's mountains;


s: Then to Bavaria turn, where they have great need of salt!


s: Lenten food for the pious bishop's table to furnish,


s: By my Creator I'm poured over the famishing land.


s: Pray be silent, ye rivers! One sees ye have no more discretion


s: Than, in a case we could name, Diderot's favorites had.


s: Wheresoever thou wanderest in space, thy Zenith and Nadir


s: Unto the heavens knit thee, unto the axis of earth.


s: Howsoever thou attest, let heaven be moved by thy purpose,


s: Let the aim of thy deeds traverse the axis of earth!


s: See how a single rich man gives a living to numbers of beggars!


s: 'Tis when sovereigns build, carters are kept in employ.


s: Toward strength and shape first tended,--


s: Knows that naught freezes when it burns--


s: And that what's bright attracts the eye.


s: What Locke and what Descartes never thought;


s: Therefore the wolf's wild species flies,--


s: Provides that ne'er the chain gives way,


s: "How far beneath me seems the earthly ball!


s: How does my art, the noblest art of all,


s: Bear me close up to heaven's bright canopy!"


s: So cries the slater from his tower's high top,


s: Hans Metaphysicus, from out his critic-shop.


s: Explain, thou little would-be mighty man!


s: The tower from which thy looks the world survey,


s: How didst thou mount it? Of what use to thee


s: Its naked heights, save o'er the vale to see?


s: Once to a horse-fair,--it may perhaps have been


s: Where other things are bought and sold,--I mean


s: At the Haymarket,--there the muses' horse


s: A hungry poet brought--to sell, of course.


s: 'The hippogriff neighed shrilly, loudly,


s: In utter wonderment each stood and cried:


s: "The noble regal beast!" But, woe betide!


s: Two hideous wings his slender form deface,


s: The finest team he else would not disgrace.


s: "The breed," said they, "is doubtless rare,


s: "As for his wings, I of no use should find them,


s: But then how easy 'tis to clip or bind them!


s: The horse for drawing may be useful found,--


s: So, friend, I don't mind giving twenty pound!"


s: Cried, "Done!"--and Hans rode off upon his prize.


s: The noble creature was, ere long, put-to,


s: But scarcely felt the unaccustomed load,


s: Than, panting to soar upwards, off he flew,


s: And, filled with honest anger, overthrew


s: The cart where an abyss just met the road.


s: "Ho! ho!" thought Hans: "No cart to this mad beast


s: I'll trust. Experience makes one wise at least.


s: To drive the coach to-morrow now my course is,


s: The lively fellow'll save me full two horses;


s: As years pass on, he'll doubtless tamer grow."


s: All went on well at first. The nimble steed


s: His partners roused,--like lightning was their speed.


s: What happened next? Toward heaven was turned his eye,--


s: He quitted soon the safe and beaten course,


s: And true to nature's strong resistless force,


s: Ran over bog and moor, o'er hedge and pasture tilled;


s: An equal madness soon the other horses filled--


s: No reins could hold them in, no help was near,


s: Till,--only picture the poor travellers' fear!--


s: The coach, well shaken, and completely wrecked,


s: Upon a hill's steep top at length was checked.


s: "If this is always sure to be the case,"


s: "He'll never do to draw a coach or wagon;


s: Let's see if we can't tame the fiery dragon


s: By means of heavy work and little food."


s: And so the plan was tried.--But what ensued?


s: The handsome beast, before three days had passed,


s: Wasted to nothing. "Stay! I see at last!"


s: Cried Hans. "Be quick, you fellows! yoke him now


s: With my most sturdy ox before the plough."


s: No sooner said than done. In union queer


s: Together yoked were soon winged horse and steer.


s: The griffin pranced with rage, and his remaining might


s: Exerted to resume his old-accustomed flight.


s: 'Twas all in vain--his partner stepped with circumspection,


s: And Phoebus' haughty steed must follow his direction;


s: Until at last, by long resistance spent,


s: When strength his limbs no longer was controlling,


s: The noble creature, with affliction bent,


s: Fell to the ground, and in the dust lay rolling.


s: "Accursed beast!" at length with fury mad


s: Hans shouted, while he soundly plied the lash,--


s: "Even for ploughing, then, thou art too bad!--


s: That fellow was a rogue to sell such trash!"


s: Ere yet his heavy blows had ceased to fly,


s: A brisk and merry youth by chance came by.


s: "Whither, my friend, with that strange pair?"


s: The hippogriff was loosened from the plough,


s: Upon his back the smiling youth leaped now;


s: Than 'ginst his bit he champed, and upward soared


s: While lightning from his flaming eyes outpoured.


s: His noble wings, and left the earth behind,


s: Knowledge to one is a goddess both heavenly and high,--to another


s: "Who would himself with shadows entertain,


s: Or gild his life with lights that shine in vain,


s: Or nurse false hopes that do but cheat the true?--


s: Though with my dream my heaven should be resigned--


s: Though the free-pinioned soul that once could dwell


s: This workday life with iron chains may bind,


s: Yet thus the mastery o'er ourselves we find,


s: Meets us thus tutored in the hour of need,


s: Shun the mild rule of life's calm sovereign, truth."


s: So speakest thou, friend, how stronger far than I;


s: As from experience--that sure port serene--


s: Thou lookest;--and straight, a coldness wraps the sky,


s: The summer glory withers from the scene,


s: Scared by the solemn spell; behold them fly,


s: Halt in their dance; and the May-breathing flowers


s: Fall from the sister-graces' waving hair.


s: Sweet-mouthed Apollo breaks his golden lyre,


s: Hermes, the wand with many a marvel rife;--


s: The veil, rose-woven, by the young desire


s: With dreams, drops from the hueless cheeks of life.


s: The world seems what it is--a grave! and love


s: Casts down the bondage wound his eyes above,


s: Where he dreamed gods; and sighs--and glides away.


s: The youngness of the beautiful grows old,


s: And on thy lips the bride's sweet kiss seems cold;


s: And in the crowd of joys--upon thy throne


s: Thou sittest in state, and hardenest into stone.


s: Thou, by whom, freed from rules constrained and wrong,


s: On truth and nature once again we're placed,--


s: Stiffest the serpents round our genius laced,--


s: Thou whom the godlike science has so long


s: With her unsullied sacred fillet graced,--


s: To that false muse whom we no longer prize?


s: No foreign idols worshipped here are seen;


s: A laurel we can show, with joyous heart,


s: That on the German Pindus has grown green


s: And, following the Briton and the Greek,


s: For yonder, where slaves kneel, and despots hold


s: The reins,--where spurious greatness lifts its head,


s: Art has no power the noble there to mould,


s: 'Tis by no Louis that its seed is spread;


s: From its own fulness it must needs unfold,


s: Its glow free spirits only e'er can light.


s: Thou dost this play of olden time recall,--


s: To days when thoughtless childhood ruled o'er all.


s: It were, in truth, an idle risk and vain


s: The new arrives, and, lo! the old has gone.


s: In pompous words no longer is our pride,


s: Nature we love when she her form reveals;


s: Fashion's false rules no more are deified;


s: 'Tis passion makes the notes of freedom sound,


s: And 'tis in truth the beautiful is found.


s: Weak is the frame of Thespis' chariot fair,


s: That carries naught but shades and forms of air;


s: And if rude life should venture to press on,


s: The fragile bark its weight no more can bear,


s: For on the stage's boarded scaffold here


s: Nothing is true and genuine save--a tear;


s: By truth profound to charm us is her care;


s: The false one, truth pretends, but to ensnare.


s: Now from the scene, art threatens to retire,


s: Her kingdom wild maintains still phantasy;


s: The stage she like the world would set on fire,


s: The meanest and the noblest mingles she.


s: The Frank alone 'tis art can now inspire,


s: He holds her fast, and vainly would she stir.


s: Chased from the regions that to her belong


s: Are Nature's tones, so careless and so wild,


s: A realm harmonious 'tis, of beauty mild,


s: Where limb unites to limb in order strong.


s: And 'tis the dance that grace to motion lends.


s: And yet the Frank must not be made our guide.


s: The boasting gestures of a spurious pride


s: That mind which only loves the true disdains.


s: Returning, like some soul's long-vanished manes.


s: To render the oft-sullied stage once more


s: A throne befitting the great muse of yore.


s: Ring and staff, oh to me on a Rhenish flask ye are welcome!


s: Him a true shepherd I call, who thus gives drink to his sheep.


s: Once wisdom dwelt in tomes of ponderous size,


s: While friendship from a pocketbook would talk;


s: But now that knowledge in small compass lies,


s: And floats in almanacs, as light as cork,


s: To open for thy friends this house so great!


s: Hast thou no fear, I seriously would ask,


s: That thou may'st thus their patience overtask?


s: Nature in charms is exhaustless, in beauty ever reviving;


s: And, like Nature, fair art is inexhaustible too.


s: Hail, thou honored old man! for both in thy heart thou preservest


s: What they yesterday learned, to-day they fain would be teaching:


s: Small compassion, alas, is by those gentlemen shown!


s: What it unwittingly is, be thou of thine own free will!


s: Life's puppet-show, the world in little,


s: The child in arms at first they bring,--


s: The boy then skips,--the youth now storms and rages,--


s: The man contends, and ventures everything!


s: The hero presses on, the coward stays behind,


s: The proud man falls with mirth-inspiring fall,


s: Thou see'st fair woman it the barrier stand,


s: With beauteous hands, with smiling eyes,


s: Ever take it for granted, that man collectively wishes


s: That which is right; but take care never to think so of one!


s: Oh, how many new foes against truth! My very soul bleedeth


s: When I behold the owl-race now bursting forth to the light.


s: Thou'lt visit lands that war's wild train


s: Woman in everything yields to man; but in that which is highest,


s: Even the manliest man yields to the woman most weak.


s: But that highest,--what is it? The gentle radiance of triumph


s: As in thy brow upon me, beauteous Amanda, it beams.


s: Man may think himself free! thou art so,--for thou never knowest


s: What is the meaning of choice,--know'st not necessity's name.


s: When hostile elements with rage resound,


s: And fury blindly fans war's lurid flame,--


s: When in the strife of party quarrel drowned,


s: The voice of justice no regard can claim,--


s: When crime is free, and impious hands are found


s: And loose the anchor which the state maintains,--


s: No subject there we find for joyous strains.


s: But when a nation, that its flocks still feeds


s: With calm content, nor other's wealth desires


s: Throws off the cruel yoke 'neath which it bleeds,


s: And, e'en in triumph, moderation heeds,--


s: That is immortal, and our song requires.


s: Thou knowest it well, for all that's great is thine!


s: Severe the proof the Grecian youth was doomed to undergo,


s: Before he might what lurks beneath the Eleusinia know--


s: Art thou prepared and ripe, the shrine--the inner shrine--to win,


s: And that worst foe within thyself with manly soul engage?


s: With eyes that keep their heavenly health--the innocence of youth


s: Fly, if thou canst not trust thy heart to guide thee on the way--


s: Where the pathway begins, eternity seems to lie open,


s: Yet at the narrowest point even the wisest man stops.


s: Glad Hymen's flowery path 'gin pressing!


s: Thy youthful charms their beauty moulding


s: To that sweet god whose might hath bound thee;--


s: Each fleeting sport of youth's creation,


s: Where soft and fluttering love was shrined;


s: In verdant links, that naught can sever,


s: Which, like the sun's reflection glowing,


s: Where will a place of refuge, noble friend,


s: The new one now begins with murder's cry.


s: Not e'en the ocean can war's tumult stay.


s: Not e'en the Nile-god, not the hoary Rhine.


s: Two mighty nations strive, with hostile power,


s: And, by them, each land's freedom to devour,


s: The trident brandished is--the lightning hurled.


s: Each country must to them its gold afford,


s: The Frank now throws his heavy iron sword,


s: The even scales of justice to o'erweigh.


s: Extends, like polyp-limbs, on every side;


s: As if his home it were, would fain bestride.


s: E'en to the south pole's dim, remotest star,


s: His restless course moves onward, unrestrained;


s: Each isle he tracks,--each coast, however far,


s: Although thine eye may every map explore,


s: Vainly thou'lt seek to find that blissful place,


s: Where freedom's garden smiles for evermore,


s: And where in youth still blooms the human race.


s: Before thy gaze the world extended lies,


s: The very shipping it can scarce embrace;


s: And yet upon her back, of boundless size,


s: E'en for ten happy men there is not space!


s: Thou needs must fly from life's tumultuous throng!


s: Freedom but in the realm of vision dwells,


s: And beauty bears no blossoms but in song.


s: Work as much as thou wilt, alone thou'lt be standing forever,


s: Till by nature thou'rt joined forcibly on to the whole.


s: How does nature proceed to unite the high and the lowly


s: In mankind? She commands vanity 'tween them to stand!


s: Doubtless an epoch important has with the century risen;


s: But the moment so great finds but a race of small worth.


s: Fools we may have in plenty, and simpletons, too, by the dozen;


s: But for comedy these never make use of themselves.


s: A maiden blush o'er every feature straying,


s: The Muse her gentle harp now lays down here,


s: And stands before thee, for thy judgment praying,--


s: She waits with reverence, but not with fear;


s: Her last farewell for his kind smile delaying.


s: Whom splendor dazzles not who holds truth dear.


s: The hand of him alone whose soaring spirit


s: Worships the beautiful, can crown her merit.


s: These simple lays are only heard resounding,


s: While feeling hearts are gladdened by their tone,


s: With brighter phantasies their path surrounding,


s: To nobler aims their footsteps guiding on.


s: Yet coming ages ne'er will hear them sounding,


s: They live but for the present hour alone;


s: The passing moment called them into being,


s: And, as the hours dance on, they, too, are fleeing.


s: The spring returns, and nature then awaking,


s: Bursts into life across the smiling plain;


s: Each shrub its perfume through the air is shaking,


s: And heaven is filled with one sweet choral strain;


s: While young and old, their secret haunts forsaking,


s: With raptured eye and ear rejoice again.


s: The spring then flies,--to seed return the flowers.


s: And naught remains to mark the vanished hours.


s: indigestion? Your digestive faculties are of iron; your entrails


s: Tum primum radiis gelidi incaluere Triones.


s: Almanac,"  which we--let's again suppose the case--might have


s: In Schiller the eight long lines that conclude each stanza of


s: this charming love-poem, instead of rhyming alternately as in the


s: Sung in "The Parasite," a comedy which Schiller translated from


s: "And ere a man hath power to say, 'behold,'


s: So quick bright things come to confusion."--


s: The three following ballads, in which Switzerland is the scene,


s: The everlasting glacier.  See William Tell, act v, scene 2.


s: It may be scarcely necessary to treat, however briefly, of the


s: What a beautiful vindication of the shortness of human life!


s: For this story, see Herodotus, book iii, sections 40-43.


s: Hecate as the mysterious goddess of Nature.--HOFFMEISTER.


s: The somewhat irregular metre of the original has been preserved


s: More literally translated thus by the author of the article on


s: It seems generally agreed that poetry is allegorized in these


s: stanzas; though, with this interpretation, it is difficult to


s: "I call the living--I mourn the dead--I break the lightning."


s: These words are inscribed on the great bell of the Minster of


s: A piece of clay pipe, which becomes vitrified if the metal is


s: The epithet in the first edition is ruhmlose.


s: See "Piccolomini," act ii., scene 6; and "The Death of


s: This poem is very characteristic of the noble ease with which


s: In das schoene Wunderland."--SCHILLER, Sehnsucht.


s: These verses were sent by Schiller to the then Electoral High


s: Chancellor, with a copy of his "William Tell."


s: Where coxcombs' wit with wondrous splendor flares,


s: And, easier than the Indian's net the prey,


s: Where vanity, as if before an idol, bows,


s: And not behind the curtain's cunning veil,


s: Where the world's eye is hid by cheating night,


s: Where wisdom we surprise with shame-dyed lip,


s: Where men, like thievish children, nectar sip,


s: When o'er the lyre all-gently sweeps my hand,


s: These strains, where bliss and sadness blend.


s: No coxcomb e'er with plaints your steps pursued,


s: For you, Arcadian shepherd ne'er has died.


s: Life's nervous thread with care to twist,


s: Till sound the clanging shears, and fruitlessly


s: Since thou my thread of life hast kindly spun,


s: Since thou hast spared that life whilst scarce begun,


s: And threat to break the thread by force;


s: Have checked its free, unfettered course.


s: Still oftener, when near sorrow's dark abyss,


s: But never let the shears cut off a rose--


s: Let, if thou will'st, the death-shears, sharply close,


s: Oh, goddess! when, enchained to Laura's breath,


s: Betraying when, upon the gates of death,


s: 'Twill wander through the realms of bliss,--


s: Then, goddess, let thy cruel shears descend!


s: Her likeness Madame Ramler bids me find;


s: Beneath the moon there's nothing of the kind.--


s: The moon--she rouges, steals the sun's bright light,


s: By eating stolen bread her living gets,--


s: Is also wont to paint her cheeks at night,


s: While, with untiring ardor, she coquets.


s: The moon--for this may Herod give her thanks!--


s: Reserves her best till night may have returned;


s: The moon first swells, and then is once more lean,


s: With Madame Ramler 'tis the same, I ween--


s: The moon to love her silver-horns is said,


s: In truth, when I have crossed dark Lethe's river,


s: The man upon the right I'll love forever,


s: For all the world the left man wrote, full clearly,


s: The goddess a miscarriage had, good lack!


s: (Poor men, who lose a king's good grace!)


s: Your rocks I know are rough and steep . . .


s: As with you folk, so charged with scent,


s: That from their desks and chains to burst


s: "When days are long, folks talk more stuff!


s: First o'er my stream you'd have to come,


s: Make haste to bring your wares to light!"


s: Up towards the head, down towards the feet."


s: Maiden, stay!--oh, whither wouldst thou go?


s: Thou the giant mad'st a dwarf once more,


s: Scattered'st far the mountains that of yore


s: All the phantoms bright hast blown away,


s: Whose sweet follies formed the hero's trust;


s: All my plans that proudly raised their head


s: Smiling, fortune's juggling wheel to view,


s: Careless wheresoe'er her ball might fly;


s: Life and death from out one beaming eye!


s: Like the victors, who, with thunder-lance,


s: God's bright sun, to roam o'er towns of kings,


s: Toward the hero doth this heart still strain?


s: Laura's love I see with sweetness beam,--


s: Dancing in the waters--cloudless, light,


s: Gladly shout the revellers as they quaff,


s: Raptures in the leaf-crowned goblet laugh,


s: Jests within the golden wine have birth,


s: Hear I still bright glory's thunder-tone?


s: Every shamefaced muse in sorrow flies,--


s: Oh, how sweet the eye's wild gaze divine


s: Sweet to quaff the incense at that shrine!


s: That which once set every sense on fire,


s: That which once could every nerve inspire,


s: Scarce a half-smile now hath power to wrest!


s: On the time-flood's heaving waves my name


s: So that Kronos' dreaded scythe was shivered,


s: Smil'st thou?--No? to me naught's perished now!


s: High o'er man 'twere easy to have soared,


s: May tell us how our flax and wheat arise.


s: What say you?--Shall I try to ascertain?


s: About mere flax and corn would rack his brain.


s: She'll seek another's arms and leave thee,


s: And horns upon thy head will shortly sprout!


s: How dreadful that when bathing thou shouldst see me


s: (No ether-bath can wash the stigma out),


s: And then, in perfect innocence, shouldst flee me!


s: Down to the front, where heaven has birth


s: They call--ye'd best look out the while,


s: Or guides us gladly through life's gates


s: "Tell them that thou on Carthage's grave


s: For shame, for shame,--once more for shame!


s: Religion 'twas produced this poem's fire;


s: Perverted also?--prithee, don't inquire!


s: What mean the joyous sounds from yonder vine-clad height?


s: Why glows the cheek? Whom is't that I, with pinions light,


s: Is it the genius whom the gladsome throng obeys?


s: In plenty's teeming horn the gifts of heaven he sways,


s: See how the golden grape in glorious beauty shines,


s: The shadow of yon bower, how lovingly it signs,


s: Ha! glad October, thou art welcome unto me!--


s: Thanks of a purer kind, than all who worship thee,


s: For thou to me the one whom I have loved so well,


s: Who merits in my heart forevermore to dwell,--


s: 'Tis true thy breath doth rock the leaves upon the trees,


s: Gently they fall:--and swift, as morning phantasies


s: 'Tis true that on thy track the fleecy spoiler hastes,


s: With discord dull, and turns the plains and groves to wastes,


s: See how the gloomy forms of years, as on they roll,


s: When, in uplifted hand, from out the foaming bowl,


s: See how they disappear, when friends sweet converse hold,


s: And, to revenge themselves on winter's north wind cold,


s: And when spring's children smile upon us once again,


s: When each melodious note of each sweet rapturous strain


s: How joyous then the stream that our whole soul pervades!


s: Sweet Philomela's song, resounding through the glades,


s: Ourselves, our youthful strength restores!


s: Oh, may this whisper breathe--(let Rieger bear in mind


s: The storm by which in age we're bent!)--


s: His guardian angel, when the evening's star so kind


s: In silence be he led to yonder thundering height,


s: In valley and on plain, may see his friends aright.


s: On yonder holy spot, when he their number tells,


s: Now first unveiled, until with pride his bosom swells,


s: Then will the distant voice be loudly heard to say:


s: When silvery locks no more around his temples play,


s: "E'en yonder"--and now in his eye the crystal tear


s: Love thee too, when his heart, in yonder spring-like sphere,


s: And yet they're crying through the street


s: Fearfully throbs the anguish-struck heart,


s: Horribly quivers each nerve in the frame;


s: Frenzy's wild laughs the torment proclaim,


s: Howling convulsions disclose the fierce smart.


s: Poisonous mists hang o'er the cities dead;


s: Plague, in dark graves, piles up treasures fair,


s: Through cloud-covered night a radiant gleam!


s: Hark how behind him the portals are closing!


s: Night's gloomy jaws veil him darkly in shade!


s: Terrible sight to each sinner that breathes,


s: Raises its barriers over against the dread throne!


s: See! to eternity shame has consigned thee!


s: Thou hast clambered aloft, on the shoulders of shame!


s: Yet time will come when shame will crumble beneath thee,


s: When admiration at length will be thine!


s: With moist eye, by thy sepulchre dreaded,


s: With moist eye, by the sepulchre dreaded,


s: Told of thy deeds by the herald of marble;


s: And the maiden--rejoice thee! rejoice thee!


s: Far away I stood as the pearls were falling,


s: Wildly his bit champs the charger of Phoebus;


s: Earth and heaven in blazing destruction!


s: Art thou charmed by the tale of my robber?


s: Glowing like time was his bosom, and panting for action!


s: He, like thee, was the child of the heavenly genius.


s: Thy gaze flies through the realms of the world's long story,


s: Still survive all his sins and his shame--


s: Earthly gods--my lyre shall win your praise,


s: Though but wont its gentle sounds to raise


s: When the joyous feast the people throng;


s: Shyly round your greatness purple flames,


s: Answer! shall I strike the golden string,


s: O'er the battle-field your chariots trail?


s: While the golden splendor gleams around,


s: With the thunderbolt your spleen may play,


s: Say! shall peace 'neath crowns be now my theme?


s: Shall I boast, ye princes, that ye dream?--


s: While the worm the monarch's heart may tear,


s: Golden sleep twines round the Moor by stealth,


s: As he, at the palace, guards the wealth,


s: Show how kings and galley-slaves, my Muse,


s: How their lightnings flatter, when surpressed,


s: When their humors have no power to harm,


s: Make the barred-up grave its wealth reveal,--


s: Hark! its doors like thunder open spring;


s: When death's dismal blast is heard to sigh,


s: Where your wishes' haughty fleet was wrecked,


s: Where was stayed your greatness' proud career


s: That they ne'er with glory may grow warm,


s: Night, with black and terror-spreading arm,


s: On the death-chest sadly gleams the crown,


s: With its heavy load of pearls weighed down,


s: See how death their pomp decayed and fled


s: They who ruled o'er north and east and west


s: Ye are worshipped by the shouting throng!--


s: How it rings, and how the fierce dogs bark!


s: Shouts from out a thousand barrels whizz;


s: Eager steeds are neighing for the wood,--


s: Soon the bristly boar rolls in his blood,--


s: Tow'rd me scornful echoes ninefold come,


s: Stealing through the vault's terrific gloom--


s: Not an answer--hushed and still is all--


s: Does the veil, then, e'en on monarchs fall,


s: Which enshrouds their humble flatt'rers glance?


s: Since the blind jade, Fate, a world has thrust


s: Marshalled in your proudly childish groups,


s: Though the sound may please the vulgar ear,


s: Yet the skilful, filled with sadness, jeer


s: Let your towering shame be hid from sight


s: From the ambush of the throne outspring!


s: Tremble, though, before the voice of song


s: Through the purple, vengeance will, ere long,


s: Soon caught her, shouted, and thus wooed her:


s: The gentle Muse will kneel at honor's feet,


s: Farewell! the beauteous sun is sinking fast,


s: Farewell! mute night o'er earth's wide round at last


s: Across the wintry plain no echoes float,


s: The murmuring streamlet, and the screech-owl's note,


s: The fish repose within the watery deeps,


s: The dog beneath the table calmly sleeps,


s: Perchance around a flask of Rhenish wine


s: The brimming goblet's bright and purple beams


s: And pleasure from the golden grape-juice gleams--


s: Concealed behind departed years, your eyes


s: And, as the summer tempest quickly flies,


s: From childish sports, to e'en the doctor's hood,


s: And reckon o'er, in light and joyous mood,


s: Ye count the oaths that Terence--may he ne'er,


s: Caused you, despite Minelli's notes, to swear,--


s: How, when the rector had pronounced his name,


s: All this is now involved in mist forever,


s: And Frederick, wiser grown, discloses never


s: At length--a doctor one's declared to be,--


s: And then,--and not too soon,--discover we


s: Blow on! blow on! and let the bubbles rise,


s: 'Twixt the heavens and earth, high in the airy ocean,


s: In the tempest's cradle I'm borne with a rocking motion;


s: All Thy terrible pomp, lend to the Finite now,


s: Hark! it peals--how the rocks quiver beneath its growls


s: Zeboath's glorious name, wildly the hurricane howls!


s: The dead has risen here, to live through endless ages;


s: I was first led to guess it by the sages,


s: The knaves convince me that 'tis really so.


s: Wilt thou, Hector, leave me?--leave me weeping,


s: Where Achilles' murderous blade is heaping


s: Who, alas, will teach thine infant truly


s: When thou'rt buried 'neath dark Xanthus' wave?


s: Dearest wife, go,--fetch my death-spear glancing,


s: Let me join the battle-dance entrancing,


s: For my shoulders bear the weight of Troy!


s: Soon will greet thee in the realms of joy.


s: His embrace--what maddening rapture bound us!


s: Bosom throbbed 'gainst bosom with wild might;


s: Mouth and ear were chained--night reigned around us--


s: And the spirit winged toward heaven its flight.


s: We ply our task when the storm's o'erhead


s: To-day we become the guests of a priest,


s: And as for the future, we care not the least,


s: And when our throats with a vintage rare


s: Fresh courage and strength we drink in there,


s: Ha! when under the axe each one quivering lies,


s: When they bellow like calves, and fall round us like flies,


s: Naught gives such pleasure to our sight,


s: One draught upon the road of liquor bright and clear,


s: And hip! hip! hip; hurrah! we're seen no longer here!


s: Ye are welcome, peaceful realms of light!


s: From Philippi, from the murderous fight,


s: Cassius, where art thou?--Rome overthrown!


s: All my brethren's loving band destroyed!


s: Who now, with the ne'er-subdued-one's tread,


s: Hither from yon rocks makes haste to come?--


s: Ha! thou with the three-and-twenty wounds!


s: Who hath, dead one, summoned thee to light?


s: Reeks now freedom's final victim's blood;


s: Rome o'er Brutus' bier feels her death-throe,--


s: He seeks Minos.--Back to thy dark flood!


s: Oh, the death-stroke Brutus' sword then hurled!


s: Thou, too--Brutus--thou? Could this thing be?


s: Go--'mongst Romans thou art deemed immortal,


s: For thy steel hath pierced thy father's breast.


s: "Brutus is 'mongst Romans deemed immortal,


s: For his steel hath pierced his father's breast."


s: Go--thou knowest now what on Lethe's strand


s: Now, grim steersman, push thy bark from land!


s: Father, stay!--In all earth's realms so fair,


s: Where lives Brutus, Caesar's blood must flow;


s: Huzza, then! the Friedlander's banner for me!


s: From Wallenstein's Camp, scene the last.


s: Up, up, my brave comrades! to horse! to horse!


s: Let us haste to the field and to freedom!


s: To the field, for 'tis there that is proved our hearts' force,


s: Each must stand alone,--on himself must rely.


s: Now freedom appears from the world to have flown,


s: None but lords and their vassals one traces;