Коллектив авторов - The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 03

What the God taught—what has befriended all
Life's ways, I place upon the Votive Wall.

The Good's the Flower to Earth already given—
The Beautiful, on Earth sows flowers from Heaven!

If thou hast something, bring thy goods—a fair return be thine;
If thou art something, bring thy soul and interchange with mine.

To know thyself —in others self discern;
Wouldst thou know others? Read thyself—and learn!

Yes, in the moral world, as ours, we see
Divided grades—a Soul's Nobility;
By deeds their titles Commoners create—
The loftier order are by birthright great.[5]

Spreads Life's true mystery round us evermore,
Seen by no eye, it lies all eyes before.

Wouldst thou the loftiest height of Wisdom gain?
On to the rashness, Prudence would disdain;
The purblind see but the receding shore,
Not that to which the bold wave wafts thee o'er!

Truth seek we both—Thou, in the life without thee and around;
I in the Heart within—by both can Truth alike be found;
The healthy eye can through the world the great Creator track—
The healthy heart is but the glass which gives creation back.

All that thou dost be right—to that alone confine thy view,
And halt within the certain rule—the All that's right to do!
True zeal the what already is would sound and perfect see;
False zeal would sound and perfect make the something that's to be!

Of the Nebulæ and planets do not babble so to me;
What! is Nature only mighty inasmuch as you can see?
Inasmuch as you can measure her immeasurable ways,
As she renders world on world, sun and system to your gaze?
Though through space your object be the Sublimest to embrace,
Never the Sublime abideth—where you vainly search—in space!

How the best state to know?—It is found out,
Like the best women—that least talked about.

What thy religion? Those thou namest—none!
None! Why?—Because I have religion!

Dear is my friend—yet from my foe, as from my friend, comes good;
My friend shows what I can do, and my foe shows what I should .

Dwell, Light, beside the changeless God—God spoke and Light began;
Come, thou, the ever-changing one—come, Color, down to Man!

Woman—to judge man rightly—do not scan
Each separate act;—pass judgment on the Man!

Intellect can repeat what's been fulfill'd,
And, aping Nature, as she buildeth—build;
O'er Nature's base can haughty Reason dare
To pile its lofty castle—in the air.
But only thine, O Genius, is the charge,
In Nature's kingdom Nature to enlarge!

Good out of good—that art is known to all—
But Genius from the bad the good can call;
Then, Mimic, not from leading-strings escaped,
Work'st but the matter that's already shaped
The already-shaped a nobler hand awaits—
All matter asks a Spirit that creates!

The calm correctness, where no fault we see,
Attests Art's loftiest or its least degree;
Alike the smoothness of the surface shows
The Pool's dull stagner—the great Sea's repose.

The herd of scribes, by what they tell us,
Show all in which their wits excel us;
But the True Master we behold,
In what his art leaves—just untold.

O'er Ocean, with a thousand masts, sails forth the stripling bold—
One boat, hard rescued from the deep, draws into port the old!

"A little earth from out the Earth-and I
The Earth will move:" so spake the Sage divine.
Out of myself one little moment—try
Myself to take:—succeed, and I am thine!

What to cement the lofty and the mean
Does Nature?—What?—Place vanity between?

"How poor a thing is man!" Alas, 'tis true
I'd half forgot it—when I chanced on you!

How God compassionates Mankind, thy muse, my friend, rehearses—
Compassion for the sins of Man!—What comfort for thy verses!

To some she is the Goddess great, to some the milch-cow of the field;
Their care is but to calculate—what butter she will yield.

How many starvelings one rich man can nourish!
When monarchs build, the rubbish-carriers flourish.

Within a vale, each infant year,
When earliest larks first carol free,
To humble shepherds doth appear
A wondrous maiden, fair to see.
Not born within that lowly place—
From whence she wander'd, none could tell;
Her parting footsteps left no trace,
When once the maiden bade farewell.
And blessèd was her presence there—
Each heart, expanding, grew more gay;
Yet something loftier still than fair
Kept man's familiar looks away.
From fairy gardens, known to none,
She brought mysterious fruits and flowers—
The things of some serener sun—
Some Nature more benign than ours.
With each, her gifts the maiden shared—
To some the fruits, the flowers to some;
Alike the young, the aged fared;
Each bore a blessing back to home.
Though every guest was welcome there,
Yet some the maiden held more dear,
And cull'd her rarest sweets whene'er
She saw two hearts that loved draw near.