The Poems of Schiller - Third period Part 34

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.

Where will a place of refuge, n.o.ble friend, For peace and freedom ever open lie!

The century in tempests had its end, The new one now begins with murder's cry.

Each land-connecting bond is torn away, Each ancient custom hastens to decline; Not e'en the ocean can war's tumult stay.

Not e'en the Nile-G.o.d, not the h.o.a.ry Rhine.

Two mighty nations strive, with hostile power, For undivided mastery of the world; And, by them, each land's freedom to devour, The trident brandished is--the lightning hurled.

Each country must to them its gold afford, And, Brennus-like, upon the fatal day, The Frank now throws his heavy iron sword, The even scales of justice to o'erweigh.

His merchant-fleets the Briton greedily Extends, like polyp-limbs, on every side; And the domain of Amphitrite free As if his home it were, would fain bestride.

E'en to the south pole's dim, remotest star, His restless course moves onward, unrestrained; Each isle he tracks,--each coast, however far, But paradise alone he ne'er has gained!

Although thine eye may every map explore, Vainly thou'lt seek to find that blissful place, Where freedom's garden smiles for evermore, And where in youth still blooms the human race.

Before thy gaze the world extended lies, The very s.h.i.+pping it can scarce embrace; And yet upon her back, of boundless size, E'en for ten happy men there is not s.p.a.ce!

Into thy bosom's holy, silent cells, Thou needs must fly from life's tumultuous throng!

Freedom but in the realm of vision dwells, And beauty bears no blossoms but in song.

GRECIAN GENIUS.

TO MEYER IN ITALY.

Speechless to thousands of others, who with deaf hearts would consult him, Talketh the spirit to thee, who art his kinsman and friend.