Under them hear they the clang of harpstrings, and angels from gold clouds Beckon to them like brothers, and fan with their pinions of purple. Closed was the Teacher's task, and with heaven in their hearts and their faces, Up rose the children all, and each bowed him, weeping full sorely, Downward to kiss that reverend hand, but all of them pressed he Moved to his bosom, and laid, with a prayer, his hands full of blessings, Now on the holy breast, and now on the innocent tresses. THE TWO LOCKS OF HAIR. FROM THE GERMAN OF PFIZER. A YOUTH, light-hearted and content, Yet oft I dream, that once a wife I wake! Away that dream,-away! So long, that both by night and day The end lies ever in my thought; But now the dream is wholly o'er, And wander through the world once more, Two locks,--and they are wondrous fair,— The brown is from the mother's hair, And when I see that lock of gold, THE HEMLOCK-TREE. FROM THE GERMAN. O HEMLOCK-TREE! O hemlock-tree! how faithful are thy branches! Green not alone in summer time, But in the winter's frost and rime! O hemlock-tree! O hemlock-tree! how faithful are thy branches ! And leave me in adversity! O maiden fair! O maiden fair! how faithless is thy boscm! But in the autumn spreads her wings. The nightingale, the nightingale, thou tak'st for thine example ! The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood! It flows so long as falls the rain, In drought its springs soon dry again. The meadow brook, the meadow brook, is mirror of thy falsehood! ANNIE OF THARAW. FROM THE LOW GERMAN OF SIMON DACH. ANNIE of Tharaw, my true love of old, Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow As the palm-tree standeth so straight and so tall, So love in our hearts shall grow mighty and strong, Through crosses, through sorrows, through manifold wrong. Through forests I'll follow, and where the sea flows, Through ice, and through iron, through armies of foes. Annie of Tharaw, my light and my sun, Whate'er I have bidden thee thou hast obeyed, How in the turmoil of life can love stand, Where there is not one heart, and one mouth, and one hand? Some seek for dissension, and trouble, and strife; Like a dog and a cat live such man and wife. Annie of Tharaw, such is not our love; THE STATUE OVER THE CATHEDRAL DOOR. FROM THE GERMAN OF JULIUS MOSEN. FORMS of saints and kings are standing Yet I saw but one among them Who hath soothed my soul with love. In his mantle,-wound about him, And so stands he calm and childlike, I would be like him, a child ! And my songs,-green leaves and blossoms,- THE LEGEND OF THE CROSSBILL. FROM THE GERMAN OF JULIUS MOSEN. ON the cross the dying Saviour P And by all the world forsaken, A little bird is striving there. Stained with blood and never tiring, And the Saviour speaks in mildness: Songs, like legends, strange to hear. THE SEA HATH ITS PEARLS. FROM THE GERMAN OF HEINRICH HEINE. THE sea hath its pearls, The heaven hath its stars; But my heart, my heart, My heart hath its love. Great are the sea and the heaven; Thou little, youthful maiden, Come unto my great heart; My heart, and the sea, and the heaven, Are melting away with love! POETIC APHORISMS. FROM THE SINNGEDICHTE OF FRIEDRICH VON LOGAU.-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. MONEY. WHEREUNTO is money good? Who has it not wants hardihood, THE BEST MEDICINES. Joy and Temperance and Repose SIN. Man-like is it to fall into sin, POVERTY AND BLINDNESS. A blind man is a poor man, and blind a poor man is; LAW OF LIFE. Live I, so live I, To my Lord heartily, To my Neighbour honestly, CREEDS. Lutheran, Popish, Calvinistic, all these creeds and doctrines three Extant are; but still the doubt is, where Christianity may be. THE RESTLESS HEART. A millstone and the human heart are driven ever round; CHRISTIAN LOVE. Whilom Love was like a fire, and warmth and comfort it bespoke; But, alas! it now is quenched, and only bites us, like the smoke. ART AND TACT. Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined; RETRIBUTION. Though the mills cf God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all. TRUTH. When by night the frogs are croaking, kindle but a torch's fire, Ha! how soon they all are silent! Thus Truth silences the liar. RHYMES. If perhaps these rhymes of mine should sound not well in strangers' ears, They have only to bethink them that it happens so with theirs; For so long as words, like mortals, call a fatherland their own, They will be most highly valued where they are best and longest known. |