Part 17 (2/2)

In its possessions exulting, industry gladly is kindled.

And from the sedge of the stream smilingly signs the blue G.o.d.

Crus.h.i.+ngly falls the axe on the tree, the Dryad sighs sadly; Down from the crest of the mount plunges the thundering load.

Winged by the lever, the stone from the rocky crevice is loosened; Into the mountain's abyss boldly the miner descends.

Mulciber's anvil resounds with the measured stroke of the hammer; Under the fist's nervous blow, spurt out the sparks of the steel.

Brilliantly twines the golden flax round the swift-whirling spindles, Through the strings of the yarn whizzes the shuttle away.

Far in the roads the pilot calls, and the vessels are waiting, That to the foreigner's land carry the produce of home; Others gladly approach with the treasures of far-distant regions, High on the mast's lofty head flutters the garland of mirth.

See how yon markets, those centres of life and of gladness, are swarming!

Strange confusion of tongues sounds in the wondering ear.

On to the pile the wealth of the earth is heaped by the merchant, All that the sun's scorching rays bring forth on Africa's soil, All that Arabia prepares, that the uttermost Thule produces, High with heart-gladdening stores fills Amalthea her horn.

Fortune wedded to talent gives birth there to children immortal, Suckled in liberty's arms, flourish the arts there of joy.

With the image of life the eyes by the sculptor are ravished, And by the chisel inspired, speaks e'en the sensitive stone.

Skies artificial repose on slender Ionian columns, And a Pantheon includes all that Olympus contains.

Light as the rainbow's spring through the air, as the dart from the bowstring, Leaps the yoke of the bridge over the boisterous stream.

But in his silent chamber the thoughtful sage is projecting Magical circles, and steals e'en on the spirit that forms, Proves the force of matter, the hatreds and loves of the magnet, Follows the tune through the air, follows through ether the ray, Seeks the familiar law in chance's miracles dreaded, Looks for the ne'er-changing pole in the phenomena's flight.

Bodies and voices are lent by writing to thought ever silent, Over the centuries' stream bears it the eloquent page.

Then to the wondering gaze dissolves the cloud of the fancy, And the vain phantoms of night yield to the dawning of day.

Man now breaks through his fetters, the happy one! Oh, let him never Break from the bridle of shame, when from fear's fetters he breaks Freedom! is reason's cry,--ay, freedom! The wild raging pa.s.sions Eagerly cast off the bonds Nature divine had imposed.

Ah! in the tempest the anchors break loose, that warningly held him On to the sh.o.r.e, and the stream tears him along in its flood,-- Into infinity whirls him,--the coasts soon vanish before him, High on the mountainous waves rocks all-dismasted the bark; Under the clouds are hid the steadfast stars of the chariot, Naught now remains,--in the breast even the G.o.d goes astray.

Truth disappears from language, from life all faith and all honor Vanish, and even the oath is but a lie on the lips.

Into the heart's most trusty bond, and into love's secrets, Presses the sycophant base, tearing the friend from the friend.

Treason on innocence leers, with looks that seek to devour, And the fell slanderer's tooth kills with its poisonous bite.

In the dishonored bosom, thought is now venal, and love, too, Scatters abroad to the winds, feelings once G.o.d-like and free.

All thy holy symbols, O truth, deceit has adopted, And has e'en dared to pollute Nature's own voices so fair, That the craving heart in the tumult of gladness discovers; True sensations are now mute and can scarcely be heard.

Justice boasts at the tribune, and harmony vaunts in the cottage, While the ghost of the law stands at the throne of the king.

Years together, ay, centuries long, may the mummy continue, And the deception endure, apeing the fulness of life.

Until Nature awakes, and with hands all-brazen and heavy 'Gainst the hollow-formed pile time and necessity strikes.

Like a tigress, who, bursting the ma.s.sive grating iron, Of her Numidian wood suddenly, fearfully thinks,-- So with the fury of crime and anguish, humanity rises Hoping nature, long-lost in the town's ashes, to find.

Oh then open, ye walls, and set the captive at freedom To the long desolate plains let him in safety return!

But where am I? The path is now hid, declivities rugged Bar, with their wide-yawning gulfs, progress before and behind.

Now far behind me is left the gardens' and hedges' sure escort, Every trace of man's hand also remains far behind.

Only the matter I see piled up, whence life has its issue, And the raw ma.s.s of basalt waits for a fas.h.i.+oning hand.

Down through its channel of rock the torrent roaringly rushes, Angrily forcing a path under the roots of the trees.

All is here wild and fearfully desolate. Naught but the eagle Hangs in the lone realms of air, knitting the world to the clouds.

Not one zephyr on soaring pinion conveys to my hearing Echoes, however remote, marking man's pleasures and pains.

Am I in truth, then, alone? Within thine arms, on thy bosom, Nature, I lie once again!--Ah, and 'twas only a dream That a.s.sailed me with horrors so fearful; with life's dreaded phantom, And with the down-rus.h.i.+ng vale, vanished the gloomy one too.

Purer my life I receive again from thine altar unsullied,-- Purer receive the bright glow felt by my youth's hopeful days.

Ever the will is changing its aim and its rule, while forever, In a still varying form, actions revolve round themselves.

But in enduring youth, in beauty ever renewing.

Kindly Nature, with grace thou dost revere the old law!

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