ANIMAL IMPULSES AWAKEN AND DEVELOP THE IMPULSES OF THE SOUL. S 7.–The Metho. The surest way, perhaps, to throw some light upon this matter is the following: Let us detach from man all idea of what can be called organization,–that is, let the body be separated from the spirit, without, however, depriving the latter of […]

When o’er the chords thy fingers stray,My spirit leaves its mortal clay,A statue there I stand;Thy spell controls e’en life and death,As when the nerves a living breathReceive by Love’s command! [1] More gently zephyr sighs alongTo listen to thy magic song;The systems formed by heavenly loveTo sing forever as they move,Pause in their endless-whirling […]

Name, my Laura, name the whirl-compellingBodies to unite in one blest whole–Name, my Laura, name the wondrous magicBy which soul rejoins its kindred soul! See! it teaches yonder roving planetsRound the sun to fly in endless race;And as children play around their mother,Checkered circles round the orb to trace. Every rolling star, by thirst tormented,Drinks […]

Pale, at its ghastly noon,Pauses above the death-still wood–the moon;The night-sprite, sighing, through the dim air stirs;The clouds descend in rain;Mourning, the wan stars wane,Flickering like dying lamps in sepulchres!Haggard as spectres–vision-like and dumb,Dark with the pomp of death, and moving slow,Towards that sad lair the pale procession comeWhere the grave closes on the night […]

Angel-fair, Walhalla’s charms displaying,Fairer than all mortal youths was he;Mild his look, as May-day sunbeams strayingGently o’er the blue and glassy sea. And his kisses!–what ecstatic feeling!Like two flames that lovingly entwine,Like the harp’s soft tones together stealingInto one sweet harmony divine,– Soul and soul embraced, commingled, blended,Lips and cheeks with trembling passion burned,Heaven and […]

ANDROMACHE.Will Hector leave me for the fatal plain,Where, fierce with vengeance for Patroclus slain,Stalks Peleus’ ruthless son?Who, when thou glid’st amid the dark abodes,To hurl the spear and to revere the gods,Shall teach thine orphan one? HECTOR.Woman and wife beloved–cease thy tears;My soul is nerved–the war-clang in my ears!Be mine in life to standTroy’s bulwark!–fighting […]

Enraged against a quondam friend,To Wisdom once proud Fortune said“I’ll give thee treasures without end,If thou wilt be my friend instead.” “My choicest gifts to him I gave,And ever blest him with my smile;And yet he ceases not to crave,And calls me niggard all the while.” “Come, sister, let us friendship vow!So take the money, […]

Through the world which the Spirit creative and kindFirst formed out of chaos, I fly like the wind,Until on the strandOf its billows I land,My anchor cast forth where the breeze blows no more,And Creation’s last boundary stands on the shore.I saw infant stars into being arise,For thousands of years to roll on through the […]

Hark where the bells toll, chiming, dull and steady,The clock’s slow hand hath reached the appointed time.Well, be it so–prepare, my soul is ready,Companions of the grave–the rest for crime!Now take, O world! my last farewell–receivingMy parting kisses–in these tears they dwell!Sweet are thy poisons while we taste believing,Now we are quits–heart-poisoner, fare-thee-well! Farewell, ye […]

Laura! a sunrise seems to breakWhere’er thy happy looks may glow.Joy sheds its roses o’er thy cheek,Thy tears themselves do but bespeakThe rapture whence they flow;Blest youth to whom those tears are given–The tears that change his earth to heaven;His best reward those melting eyes–For him new suns are in the skies! Thy soul–a crystal […]

to Laura. (the Mystery of Reminiscence) [2] Who and what gave to me the wish to woo thee–Still, lip to lip, to cling for aye unto thee?Who made thy glances to my soul the link–Who bade me burn thy very breath to drink–My life in thine to sink?As from the conqueror’s unresisted glaive,Flies, without strife […]

From earth I seem to wing my flight,And sun myself in Heaven’s pure light,When thy sweet gaze meets mineI dream I quaff ethereal dew,When my own form I mirrored viewIn those blue eyes divine! Blest notes from Paradise afar,Or strains from some benignant starEnchant my ravished ear:My Muse feels then the shepherd’s hourWhen silvery tones […]

Hark! like the sea in wrath the heavens assailing,Or like a brook through rocky basin wailing,Comes from below, in groaning agony,A heavy, vacant torment-breathing sigh!Their faces marks of bitter torture wear,While from their lips burst curses of despair;Their eyes are hollow, and full of woe,And their looks with heartfelt anguishSeek Cocytus’ stream that runs wailing […]

Do I dream? can I trust to my eye?My sight sure some vapor must cover?Or, there, did my Minna pass by–My Minna–and knew not her lover?On the arm of the coxcomb she crossed,Well the fan might its zephyr bestow;Herself in her vanity lost,That wanton my Minna?–Ah, no! In the gifts of my love she was […]

The air is perfumed with the morning’s fresh breeze,From the bush peer the sunbeams all purple and bright,While they gleam through the clefts of the dark-waving trees,And the cloud-crested mountains are golden with light. With joyful, melodious, ravishing, strain,The lark, as he wakens, salutes the glad sun,Who glows in the arms of Aurora again,And blissfully […]

Monument of our own age’s shame,On thy country casting endless blame,Rousseau’s grave, how dear thou art to meCalm repose be to thy ashes blest!In thy life thou vainly sought’st for rest,But at length ’twas here obtained by thee! When will ancient wounds be covered o’er?Wise men died in heathen days of yore;Now ’tis lighter–yet they […]

Heavy and solemn,A cloudy column,Through the green plain they marching came!Measure less spread, like a table dread,For the wild grim dice of the iron game.The looks are bent on the shaking ground,And the heart beats loud with a knelling sound;Swift by the breasts that must bear the brunt,Gallops the major along the front–“Halt!”And fettered they […]

Ye in the age gone by,Who ruled the world–a world how lovely then!–And guided still the steps of happy menIn the light leading-strings of careless joy!Ah, flourished then your service of delight!How different, oh, how different, in the dayWhen thy sweet fanes with many a wreath were bright,O Venus Amathusia! Then, through a veil of […]

Elegy On the Death of a Young Man [5] Mournful groans, as when a tempest lowers,Echo from the dreary house of woe;Death-notes rise from yonder minster’s towers!Bearing out a youth, they slowly go;Yes! a youth–unripe yet for the bier,Gathered in the spring-time of his days,Thrilling yet with pulses strong and clear,With the flame that in […]

She comes, she comes–the burden of the deeps!Beneath her wails the universal sea!With clanking chains and a new god, she sweeps,And with a thousand thunders, unto thee!The ocean-castles and the floating hosts–Ne’er on their like looked the wild water!–WellMay man the monster name “Invincible.”O’er shuddering waves she gathers to thy coasts!The horror that she spreads […]