To the plain his course he taketh,
Serpent-winding,
Social streamlets
Join his waters. And now moves he
O'er the plain in silv'ry glory,
And the plain in him exults,
And the rivers from the plain,
And the streamlets from the mountain,
Shout with joy, exclaiming: "Brother,
Brother, take thy brethren with thee,
With thee to thine aged father,
To the
everlasting ocean,
Who, with arms outstretching far,
Waiteth for us;
Ah, in vain those arms lie open
To
embrace his yearning children;
For the thirsty sand consumes us
In the desert waste; the sunbeams
Drink our life-blood; hills around us
Into lakes would dam us! Brother,
Take thy brethren of the plain,
Take thy brethren of the mountain
With thee, to thy father's arms!
Let all come, then!--
And now swells he
Lordlier still; yea, e'en a people
Bears his regal flood on high!
And in
triumphonward rolling,
Names to countries gives he,--cities
Spring to light beneath his foot.
Ever, ever, on he rushes,
Leaves the towers' flame-tipp'd summits,
Marble palaces, the offspring
Of his
fullness, far behind.
Cedar-houses bears the Atlas
On his giant shoulders; flutt'ring
In the
breeze far, far above him
Thousand flags are gaily floating,
Bearing
witness to his might.
And so beareth he his brethren,
All his treasures, all his children,
Wildly shouting, to the bosom
Of his long-expectant sire.
1774.
-----
SPIRIT SONG OVER THE WATERS.
THE soul of man
Resembleth water:
From heaven it cometh,
To heaven it soareth.
And then again
To earth descendeth,
Changing ever.
Down from the lofty
Rocky wall
Streams the bright flood,
Then spreadeth gently
In cloudy billows
O'er the smooth rock,
And welcomed kindly,
Veiling, on roams it,
Soft murmuring,
Tow'rd the abyss.
Cliffs projecting
Oppose its progress,--
Angrily foams it
Down to the bottom,
Step by step.
Now, in flat channel,
Through the meadowland steals it,
And in the polish'd lake
Each constellation
Joyously peepeth.
Wind is the loving
Wooer of waters;
Wind blends together
Billows all-foaming.
Spirit of man,
Thou art like unto water!
Fortune of man,
Thou art like unto wind!
1789.*
-----
MY GODDESS.
SAY, which Immortal
Merits the highest reward?
With none
contend I,
But I will give it
To the aye-changing,
Ever-moving
Wondrous daughter of Jove.
His best-
beloved offspring.
Sweet Phantasy.
For unto her
Hath he granted
All the fancies which erst
To none allow'd he
Saving himself;
Now he takes his pleasure
In the mad one.
She may, crowned with roses,
With staff twined round with lilies,
Roam thro' flow'ry valleys,
Rule the butterfly-people,
And soft-nourishing dew
With bee-like lips
Drink from the blossom:
Or else she may
With fluttering hair
And
gloomy looks
Sigh in the wind
Round rocky cliffs,
And thousand-hued.
Like morn and even.
Ever changing,
Like moonbeam's light,
To mortals appear.
Let us all, then,
Adore the Father!
The old, the mighty,
Who such a beauteous
Ne'er-fading spouse
Deigns to accord
To perishing mortals!
To us alone
Doth he unite her,
With
heavenly bonds,
While he commands her,
in joy and sorrow,
As a true spouse
Never to fly us.
All the remaining
Races so poor
Of life-teeming earth.
In children so rich.
Wander and feed
In
vacant enjoyment,
And 'mid the dark sorrows
Of evanescent
Restricted life,--
Bow'd by the heavy
Yoke of Necessity.
But unto us he
Hath his most versatile,
Most cherished daughter
Granted,--what joy!
Lovingly greet her
As a
beloved one!
Give her the woman's
Place in our home!
And oh, may the aged
Stepmother Wisdom
Her gentle spirit
Ne'er seek to harm!
Yet know I her sister,
The older, sedater,
Mine own silent friend;
Oh, may she never,
Till life's lamp is quench'd,
Turn away from me,--
That noble inciter,
Comforter,--Hope!
1781.
-----
WINTER JOURNEY OVER THE HARTZ MOUNTAINS.
[The following
explanation is necessary, in order to make this
ode in any way intelligible. The Poet is
supposed to leave his
companions, who are
proceeding on a
huntingexpedition in winter,
in order himself to pay a visit to a hypochondriacal friend, and
also to see the
mining in the Hartz mountains. The ode
alternately describes, in a very fragmentary and
peculiar manner,
the naturally happy
disposition of the Poet himself and the
unhappiness of his friend; it pictures the wildness of the road
and the dreariness of the
prospect, which is relieved at one spot
by the distant sight of a town, a very vague
allusion to which is
made in the third strophe; it recalls the
hunting party on which
his companions have gone; and after an address to Love, concludes
by a
contrast between the unexplored recesses of the highest peak
of the Hartz and the metalliferous veins of its smaller
brethren.]
LIKE the vulture
Who on heavy morning clouds
With gentle wing reposing
Looks for his prey,--
Hover, my song!
For a God hath
Unto each prescribed
His destined path,
Which the happy one
Runs o'er swiftly
To his glad goal:
He whose heart cruel
Fate hath contracted,
Struggles but vainly
Against all the barriers
The
brazen thread raises,
But which the harsh shears
Must one day sever.
Through
gloomy thickets
Presseth the wild deer on,
And with the sparrows