The Works of Frederick Schiller Part 514

Dissension flies, all tempests end, And chained is strife abhorred; We in the crater may descend From whence the lava poured.

A gracious fate conduct thee through Life's wild and mazy track!

A bosom nature gave thee true,-- A bosom true bring back!

Thou'lt visit lands that war's wild train Had crushed with careless heed; Now smiling peace salutes the plain, And strews the golden seed.

The h.o.a.ry Father Rhine thou'lt greet, Who thy forefather [58] blest Will think of, whilst his waters fleet In ocean's bed to rest.

Do homage to the hero's manes, And offer to the Rhine, The German frontier who maintains, His own-created wine,--

So that thy country's soul thy guide May be, when thou hast crossed On the frail bark to yonder side, Where German faith is lost!

THE IDEAL OF WOMAN.

TO AMANDA.

Woman in everything yields to man; but in that which is highest, Even the manliest man yields to the woman most weak.

But that highest,--what is it? The gentle radiance of triumph As in thy brow upon me, beauteous Amanda, it beams.

When o'er the bright s.h.i.+ning disk the clouds of affliction are fleeting, Fairer the image appears, seen through the vapor of gold.

Man may think himself free! thou art so,--for thou never knowest What is the meaning of choice,--know'st not necessity's name.

That which thou givest, thou always givest wholly; but one art thou ever, Even thy tenderest sound is thine harmonious self.

Youth everlasting dwells here, with fulness that never is exhausted, And with the flower at once pluckest thou the ripe golden fruit.

THE FOUNTAIN OF SECOND YOUTH.

Trust me, 'tis not a mere tale,--the fountain of youth really runneth, Runneth forever. Thou ask'st, where? In the poet's sweet art!

WILLIAM TELL. [59]

When hostile elements with rage resound, And fury blindly fans war's lurid flame,-- When in the strife of party quarrel drowned, The voice of justice no regard can claim,-- When crime is free, and impious hands are found The sacred to pollute, devoid of shame, And loose the anchor which the state maintains,-- No subject there we find for joyous strains.

But when a nation, that its flocks still feeds With calm content, nor other's wealth desires Throws off the cruel yoke 'neath which it bleeds, Yet, e'en in wrath, humanity admires,-- And, e'en in triumph, moderation heeds,-- That is immortal, and our song requires.

To show thee such an image now is mine; Thou knowest it well, for all that's great is thine!

TO A YOUNG FRIEND DEVOTING HIMSELF TO PHILOSOPHY.

Severe the proof the Grecian youth was doomed to undergo, Before he might what lurks beneath the Eleusinia know-- Art thou prepared and ripe, the shrine--the inner shrine--to win, Where Pallas guards from vulgar eyes the mystic prize within?

Knowest thou what bars thy way? how dear the bargain thou dost make, When but to buy uncertain good, sure good thou dost forsake?

Feel'st thou sufficient strength to brave the deadliest human fray, When heart from reason--sense from thought, shall rend themselves away?

Sufficient valor, war with doubt, the hydra-shape, to wage; And that worst foe within thyself with manly soul engage?

With eyes that keep their heavenly health--the innocence of youth To guard from every falsehood, fair beneath the mask of truth?

Fly, if thou canst not trust thy heart to guide thee on the way-- Oh, fly the charmed margin ere th' abyss engulf its prey.

Round many a step that seeks the light, the shades of midnight close; But in the glimmering twilight, see--how safely childhood goes!

EXPECTATION AND FULFILMENT.

Into life's ocean the youth with a thousand masts daringly launches; Mute, in a boat saved from wreck, enters the gray-beard the port.

THE COMMON FATE.

See how we hate, how we quarrel, how thought and how feeling divide us!

But thy locks, friend, like mine, meanwhile are bleachening fast.

HUMAN ACTION.

Where the pathway begins, eternity seems to lie open, Yet at the narrowest point even the wisest man stops.

NUPTIAL ODE. [60]

Fair bride, attended by our blessing, Glad Hymen's flowery path 'gin pressing!

We witnessed with enraptured eye The graces of thy soul unfolding, Thy youthful charms their beauty moulding To blossom for love's ecstasy.

A happy fate now hovers round thee, And friends.h.i.+p yields without a smart To that sweet G.o.d whose might hath bound thee;-- He needs must have, he hath thy heart!

To duties dear, to trouble tender, Thy youthful breast must now surrender, Thy garland's summons must obey.

Each toying infantine sensation, Each fleeting sport of youth's creation, Forevermore hath pa.s.sed away; And Hymen's sacred bond now chaineth Where soft and fluttering love was shrined; Yet for a heart, where beauty reigneth, Of flowers alone that bond is twined.

The secret that can keep forever In verdant links, that naught can sever, The bridal garland, wouldst thou find?

'Tis purity the heart pervading, The blossoms of a grace unfading, And yet with modest shame combined, Which, like the sun's reflection glowing, Makes every heart throb blissfully;-- 'Tis looks with mildness overflowing, And self-maintaining dignity!

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE NEW CENTURY.