XXXVIII. The phantoms of times forgottenArise from out their grave,And show me how once in thy presenceI lived the life it gave. In the day I wandered dreaming,Through the streets with unsteady foot;The people looked at me in wonder,I was so mournful and mute. At night, then it was better,For empty was the town;I and […]

LX. They have company this evening,And the house is full of light;Up there at the shining windowMoves a shadowy form in white. Thou seest me not–in the darknessI stand here below, apart;Yet less, ah less thou seestInto my gloomy heart! My gloomy heart it loves thee,Loves thee in every spot:It breaks, it bleeds, it shudders–Butinto […]

“Which of you, knight or squire, will darePlunge into yonder gulf?A golden beaker I fling in it–there!The black mouth swallows it like a wolf!Who brings me the cup again, whoever,It is his own–he may keep it for ever!” Tis the king who speaks; and he flings from the browOf the cliff, that, rugged and steep,Hangs […]

To this man, ’tis a goddess tall,Who lifts a star-encircled head;To that, a fine cow in a stall,Which gives him butter to his bread.

True love, knight, as to a brother,Yield I you again;Ask me not for any other,For it gives me pain.Calmly I behold you come in,Calm behold you go;Your sad eyes the weeping dumb inI nor read nor know. And he hears her uncomplaining,Tears him free by force;To his heart but once her straining,Flings him on his […]

Poems are painted window-panes:Look from the square into the church–Gloom and dusk are all your gains!Sir Philistine is left in the lurch:Outside he stands–spies nothing or use of it,And nought is left him save the abuse of it. But you, I pray you, just step in;Make in the chapel your obeisance:All at once ’tis a […]

Ah, from out this valley hollow,By cold fogs always oppressed,Could I but the outpath follow–Ah, how were my spirit blest!Hills I see there, glad dominions,Ever young, and green for aye!Had I wings, oh, had I pinions,To the hills were I away! Harmonies I hear there ringing,Tones of sweetest heavenly rest;And the gentle winds are bringingBalmy […]

AFTER THE MANNER OF HANS SACHS. While yet unknown, and very low,Our Lord on earth went to and fro;And some of his scholars his word so goodVery strangely misunderstood–He much preferred to hold his courtIn streets and places of resort,Because under the heaven’s faceWords better and freer flow apace;There he gave them the highest loreOut […]

Three words I will tell you, of meaning full:The lips of the many shout them;Yet were they born of no sect or school,The heart only knows about them:That man is of everything worth bereftWho in those three words has no faith left: Man is born free–and is free alwayEven were he born in fetters!Let not […]

Up there, upon yonder mountain,Stands a castle old, in the gorse,Where once, behind doors and portals,Lurking lay knight and horse. Burnt are the doors and the portals;All round it is very still;Its old walls, tumbled in ruins,I scramble about at my will. Close hereby lay a cellarFull of wine that was old and rare;But the […]

“How far the world lies under me!Scarce can I see the men below there crawling!How high it bears me up, my lofty calling!How near the heavenly canopy!”Thus, from tower-roof where he doth clamber,Calls out the slater; and with him the small big man,Jack Metaphysicus, down in his writing-chamber!Tell me, thou little great big man,–The tower, […]

The principle whence everythingTo life and shape ascended–The pulley whereon Zeus the ringOf Earth, which else in sherds would spring,Has carefully suspended–To genius I yield him a claimWho fathoms for me what its name,Save I withdraw its curtain:It is–ten is not thirteen. That snow makes cold, that fire burns,That man on two feet goeth,That in […]

I. Threefold is of Time the tread:Lingering comes the Future pacing hither;Dartlike is the Now gone thither;Stands the Past aye moveless, foot and head. No impatience wings its idleTread of leisurely delay;Fear or doubt it cannot bridleShould it headlong run away;No remorse, no incantationMoves the standing from its station. Wouldst thou end thy earthly journeyWise […]

I. Before all the wondrous shows of the widespread space around him, what living, sentient thing loves not the all-joyous light, with its colours, its rays and undulations, its gentle omnipresence in the form of the wakening Day? The giant world of the unresting constellations inhales it as the innermost soul of life, and floats […]

I. Without thee, what were life or being!Without thee, what had I not grown!From fear and anguish vainly fleeing,I in the world had stood alone;For all I loved could trust no shelter;The future a dim gulf had lain;And when my heart in tears did welter,To whom had I poured out my pain? Consumed in love […]

That was the sound of the wicket!That was the latch as it rose!No–the wind that through the thicketOf the poplars whirring goes. Put on thy beauty, foliage-vaulted roof,Her to receive: with silent welcome grace her;Ye branches build a shadowy room, eye-proof,With lovely night and stillness to embrace her,Ye airs caressing, wake, nor keep aloof,In sport […]

Men talk with their lips and dream with their soulOf better days hitherward pacing;To a happy, a glorious, golden goalSee them go running and chasing!The world grows old and to youth returns,But still for the Better man’s bosom burns. It is Hope leads him into life and its light;She haunts the little one merry;The youth […]

They were parted at last, althoughEach was tenderly dear;As asunder their eyes did go,When first alone and near. ‘Tis an old story this–A trembling and a sigh,A gaze in the eyes, a kiss–Why will it not go by?

PART I. 1. I lay and dreamed. The master cameIn his old woven dress;I stood in joy, and yet in shame,Oppressed with earthliness. He stretched his arms, and gently soughtTo clasp me to his soul;I shrunk away, because I thoughtHe did not know the whole. I did not love him as I would,Embraces were not […]

“It is only justTo laud good wine:If I sit in the dust,So sits the vine.” Abu Midjan sang, as he sat in chains,For the blood of the grape was the juice of his veins.The prophet had said, “O Faithful, drink not”–Abu Midjan drank till his heart was hot;Yea, he sang a song in praise of […]