Friedrich Schiller

“ Joy, thou goddess, fair, immortal, Offspring of Elysium, Mad with rapture, to the portal Of thy holy fame we come! Fashion's laws, indeed, may sever, But thy magic joins again; All mankind are brethren ever 'Neath thy mild and gentle reign. CHORUS. Welcome, all ye myriad creatures! Brethren, take the kiss of love! Yes, the starry realms above Hide a Father's smiling features! He, that noble prize possessing— He that boasts a friend that's true, He whom woman's love is blessing, Let him join the chorus too! Aye, and he who but one spirit On this earth can call his own! ”

“ The wondering savages soon came To view the new creation's plan "Behold!"—the joyous crowds exclaim,— "Behold, all this is done by man!" With jocund and more social aim The minstrel's lyre their awe awoke, Telling of Titans, and of giant's frays And lion-slayers, turning, as he spoke, Even into heroes those who heard his lays. For the first time the soul feels joy, By raptures blessed that calmer are, That only greet it from afar, That passions wild can ne'er destroy, And that, when tasted, do not cloy. ”

“ To beauty's richer, more majestic stream,— The fair members of the world's vast scheme, That, maimed, disgrace on his creation bring, He sees the lofty forms then perfecting— The fairer riddles come from out the night— The richer is the world his arms enclose, The broader stream the sea with which he flows— The weaker, too, is destiny's blind might— The nobler instincts does he prove— The smaller he himself, the greater grows his love. ”

“ Urania,—the majestic dreaded one, Who wears a glory of Orions twined Around her brow, and who is seen by none Save purest spirits, when, in splendor shrined, She soars above the stars in pride, Ascending to her sunny throne,— Her fiery chaplet lays aside, And now, as beauty, stands alone; While, with the Graces' girdle round her cast, She seems a child, by children understood; For we shall recognize as truth at last, What here as beauty only we have viewed. ”

“ Thou revellest joyously in telling o'er The blooming flowers that round thy path are strown,— The glad, whom thou hast made so evermore,— The souls that thou hast conquered for thine own. In thy deceit so blissful be thou glad! Ne'er let a waking disenchantment sad Hurl thee despairing from thy dream's proud flight! Like the fair flowerets that thy beds perfume, Observe them, but ne'er touch them as they bloom,— Plant them, but only for the distant sight. Created only to enchant the eye, In faded beauty at thy feet they'll lie, The nearer thee, the nearer their long night! ”

“ To-morrow to receive New life, she digs her proper grave to-day; And icy moons with weary sameness weave From their own light their fulness and decay. Home to the poet's land the gods are flown, Light use in them that later world discerns, Which, the diviner leading-strings outgrown, On its own axle turns. Home! and with them are gone The hues they gazed on and the tones they heard; Life's beauty and life's melody:—alone Broods o'er the desolate void, the lifeless word ”

“ Return, thou virgin-bloom on Nature's face; Ah, only on the minstrel's magic shore, Can we the footstep of sweet fable trace! The meadows mourn for the old hallowing life; Vainly we search the earth of gods bereft; Where once the warm and living shapes were rife, Shadows alone are left! Cold, from the north, has gone Over the flowers the blast that killed their May; And, to enrich the worship of the one, A universe of gods must pass away! Mourning, I search on yonder starry steeps, But thee no more, Selene, there I see! ”

“ The fairest flowers that decked the earth, Into a nosegay, with wise choice combined, Thus the first art from Nature had its birth; Into a garland then were nosegays twined, And from the works that mortal hands had made, A second, nobler art was now displayed. The child of beauty, self-sufficient now, That issued from your hands to perfect day, Loses the chaplet that adorned its brow, Soon as reality asserts its sway. ”

“ And beauty's golden girdle wreathes With mildness round his path through life; Perfection blest, triumphantly, Before him in your works soars high; Wherever boisterous rapture swells, Wherever silent sorrow flees, Where pensive contemplation dwells, Where he the tears of anguish sees, Where thousand terrors on him glare, Harmonious streams are yet behind— He sees the Graces sporting there, With feeling silent and refined. Gentle as beauty's lines together linking, As the appearances that round him play, In tender outline in each other sinking, The soft breath of his life thus fleets away. ”

“ Then, through a veil of dreams Woven by song, truth's youthful beauty glowed, And life's redundant and rejoicing streams Gave to the soulless, soul—where'r they flowed Man gifted nature with divinity To lift and link her to the breast of love; All things betrayed to the initiate eye The track of gods above! Where lifeless—fixed afar, A flaming ball to our dull sense is given, Phoebus Apollo, in his golden car, In silent glory swept the fields of heaven! On yonder hill the Oread was adored, In yonder tree the Dryad held her home ”

“ Over the spirit fairer Nature shed, With soft refulgence, a reflection bright, And through the graceful soul with stately tread Advanced the mighty Deity of light. Millions of chains were burst asunder then, And to the slave then human laws applied, And mildly rose the younger race of men, As brethren, gently wandering side by side, With noble inward ecstasy, The bliss imparted ye receive, And in the veil of modesty, With silent merit take your leave. ”

“ If on the paths of thought, so freely given, The searcher now with daring fortune stands, And, by triumphant Paeans onward driven, Would seize upon the crown with dauntless hands— If he with grovelling hireling's pay Thinks to dismiss his glorious guide— Or, with the first slave's-place array Art near the throne his dream supplied— Forgive him!—O'er your head to-day Hovers perfection's crown in pride, With you the earliest plant Spring had, Soul-forming Nature first began; With you, the harvest-chaplet glad, Perfected Nature ends her plan. ”

“ To art ennobled shall have grown,— Soon as with you he scales a mountain-height, And there, illumined by the setting sun, The smiling valley bursts upon his sight. The richer ye reward the eager gaze The higher, fairer orders that the mind May traverse with its magic rays, Or compass with enjoyment unconfined— The wider thoughts and feelings open lie To more luxuriant floods of harmony. ”

“ The freest mother's children free, With steadfast countenance then rise To highest beauty's radiancy, And every other crown despise! The sisters who escaped you here, Within your mother's arms ye'll meet; What noble spirits may revere, Must be deserving and complete. High over your own course of time Exalt yourselves with pinion bold, And dimly let your glass sublime The coming century unfold! On thousand roads advancing fast Of ever-rich variety, With fond embraces meet at last Before the throne of harmony! ”

“ Ere to the world proportion ye revealed, That every being joyfully obeys,— A boundless structure, in night's veil concealed, Illumed by naught but faint and languid rays, A band of phantoms, struggling ceaselessly, Holding his mind in slavish fetters bound, Unsociable and rude as be, Assailing him on every side around,— Thus seemed to man creation in that day! United to surrounding forms alone By the blind chains the passions had put on, Whilst Nature's beauteous spirit fled away Unfelt, untasted, and unknown. ”

“ Flushed with the glow of victory, Never forget to prize the hand That found the weeping orphan child Deserted on life's barren strand, And left a prey to hazard wild,— That, ere thy spirit-honor saw the day, Thy youthful heart watched over silently, And from thy tender bosom turned away Each thought that might have stained its purity; That kind one ne'er forget who, as in sport, Thy youth to noble aspirations trained, And who to thee in easy riddles taught The secret how each virtue might be gained ”

“ All, that which gains immortal life in song, To mortal life must perish!
RESIGNATION. Yes! even I was in Arcadia born, And, in mine infant ears, A vow of rapture was by Nature sworn;— Yes! even I was in Arcadia born, And yet my short spring gave me only—tears! Once blooms, and only once, life's youthful May; For me its bloom hath gone. The silent God—O brethren, weep to-day— The silent God hath quenched my torch's ray, And the vain dream hath flown. Upon thy darksome bridge, Eternity, I stand e'en now, dread thought! ”

“ That unyoked man his duties bears in mind, And loves the fetters that his motions bind, That Chance with brazen sceptre rules him not,— For this eternity is now your lot, Your heart has won a bright reward for this. That round the cup where freedom flows, Merrily sport the gods of bliss,— The beauteous dream its fragrance throws, For this, receive a loving kiss! ”

“ Then, too, ye plunged, without a fear, Into Avernus' ocean black, And found the vanished life so dear Beyond the urn, and brought it back. A blooming Pollux-form appeared now soon, On Castor leaning, and enshrined in light— The shadow that is seen upon the moon, Ere she has filled her silvery circle bright! Yet higher,—higher still above the earth Inventive genius never ceased to rise: Creations from creations had their birth, And harmonies from harmonies. What here alone enchants the ravished sight, A nobler beauty yonder must obey ”

“ He weighs her now with weights that human are, Metes her with measures that she lent of old; While in her beauty's rites more practised far, She now must let his eye her form behold. With youthful and self-pleasing bliss, He lends the spheres his harmony, And, if he praise earth's edifice, 'Tis for its wondrous symmetry. ”

“ Joy, in Nature's wide dominion, Mightiest cause of all is found; And 'tis joy that moves the pinion, When the wheel of time goes round; From the bud she lures the flower— Suns from out their orbs of light; Distant spheres obey her power, Far beyond all mortal sight. ”

“ What in the land of knowledge the discoverer knows, He knows, discovers, only for your gain The treasures that the thinker has amassed, He will enjoy within your arms alone, Soon as his knowledge, beauty-ripe at last. ”

“ Who, to receive him back more perfect still, E'en into strangers' arms her favorite gave— Oh, may'st thou never with degenerate will, Humble thyself to be her abject slave! In industry, the bee the palm may bear; In skill, the worm a lesson may impart; With spirits blest thy knowledge thou dost share, But thou, O man, alone hast art! Only through beauty's morning gate Didst thou the land of knowledge find. To merit a more glorious fate, In graces trains itself the mind. ”

“ In the starry realms above, Bright rewards by God are given. To the Gods we ne'er can render Praise for every good they grant; Let us, with devotion tender, Minister to grief and want. Quenched be hate and wrath forever, Pardoned be our mortal foe— May our tears upbraid him never, No repentance bring him low! CHORUS. Sense of wrongs forget to treasure— Brethren, live in perfect love! In the starry realms above, God will mete as we may measure. ”

“ Deaf to the joys she gives— Blind to the pomp of which she is possessed— Unconscious of the spiritual power that lives Around, and rules her—by our bliss unblessed— Dull to the art that colors or creates, Like the dead timepiece, godless nature creeps Her plodding round, and, by the leaden weights, The slavish motion keeps. ”

“ A genius hid from sight exclaimed. "Two flowers," he cried, "ye mortals, mark the sign,— Two flowers to greet the Searcher wise entwine,— Hope and Enjoyment they are named." "Who of these flowers plucks one, let him ne'er yearn To touch the other sister's bloom. Let him enjoy, who has no faith; eterne As earth, this truth!—Abstain, who faith can learn! The world's long story is the world's own doom." "Hope thou hast felt,—thy wages, then, are paid; Thy faith 'twas formed the rapture pledged to thee. ”

“ The heart that she in gentle fetters binds, Views duty's slavish escort scornfully; Her path of light, though fairer far it winds, Sinks in the sun-track of morality. Those who in her chaste service still remain, No grovelling thought can tempt, no fate affright; The spiritual life, so free from stain, Freedom's sweet birthright, they receive again, Under the mystic sway of holy might. The purest among millions, happy they Whom to her service she has sanctified, Whose mouths the mighty one's commands convey, Within whose breasts she deigneth to abide ”

“ Whom she ordained to feed her holy fire Upon her altar's ever-flaming pyre,— Whose eyes alone her unveiled graces meet, And whom she gathers round in union sweet In the much-honored place be glad Where noble order bade ye climb, For in the spirit-world sublime, Man's loftiest rank ye've ever had! ”

“ Lest on virtue's steeps he tire, Joy the tedious path beguiles. High on faith's bright hill before us, See her banner proudly wave! Joy, too, swells the angels' chorus,— Bursts the bondage of the grave! ”

“ By contemplation captive made, Ensnared by your discerning eye, The friendly phantom's soon betrayed The talisman that roused your ecstasy. The laws of wonder-working might, The stores by beauty brought to light, Inventive reason in soft union planned To blend together 'neath your forming hand. ”