Poems, first period | Page 2

mane,?Strode he forth by the prince and the slave!
Life like a spring day, serene and divine,?In the star of the morning went by as a trance;?His murmurs he drowned in the gold of the wine,?And his sorrows were borne on the wave of the dance.
Worlds lay concealed in the hopes of his youth!--?When once he shall ripen to manhood and fame!?Fond father exult!--In the germs of his youth?What harvests are destined for manhood and fame!
Not to be was that manhood!--The death-bell is knelling, The hinge of the death-vault creaks harsh on the ears-- How dismal, O Death, is the place of thy dwelling!?Not to be was that manhood!--Flow on, bitter tears!?Go, beloved, thy path to the sun,?Rise, world upon world, with the perfect to rest;?Go--quaff the delight which thy spirit has won,?And escape from our grief in the Halls of the Blest.
Again (in that thought what a healing is found!)?To meet in the Eden to which thou art fled!--?Hark, the coffin sinks down with a dull, sullen sound, And the ropes rattle over the sleep of the dead.?And we cling to each other!--O Grave, he is thine!?The eye tells the woe that is mute to the ears--?And we dare to resent what we grudge to resign,?Till the heart's sinful murmur is choked in its tears. Pale at its ghastly noon,?Pauses above the death-still wood--the moon!?The night-sprite, sighing, through the dim air stirs:?The clouds descend in rain;?Mourning, the wan stars wane,?Flickering like dying lamps in sepulchres.?The dull clods swell into the sullen mound;?Earth, one look yet upon the prey we gave!?The grave locks up the treasure it has found;?Higher and higher swells the sullen mound--?Never gives back the grave!
FANTASIE--TO LAURA.
Name, my Laura, name the whirl-compelling?Bodies to unite in one blest whole--?Name, my Laura, name the wondrous magic?By which soul rejoins its kindred soul!
See! it teaches yonder roving planets?Round the sun to fly in endless race;?And as children play around their mother,?Checkered circles round the orb to trace.
Every rolling star, by thirst tormented,?Drinks with joy its bright and golden rain--?Drinks refreshment from its fiery chalice,?As the limbs are nourished by the brain.
'Tis through Love that atom pairs with atom,?In a harmony eternal, sure;?And 'tis Love that links the spheres together--?Through her only, systems can endure.
Were she but effaced from Nature's clockwork,?Into dust would fly the mighty world;?O'er thy systems thou wouldst weep, great Newton,?When with giant force to chaos hurled!
Blot the goddess from the spirit order,?It would sink in death, and ne'er arise.?Were love absent, spring would glad us never;?Were love absent, none their God would prize!
What is that, which, when my Laura kisses,?Dyes my cheek with flames of purple hue,?Bids my bosom bound with swifter motion,?Like a fever wild my veins runs through?
Every nerve from out its barriers rises,?O'er its banks, the blood begins to flow;?Body seeks to join itself to body,?Spirits kindle in one blissful glow.
Powerful as in the dead creations?That eternal impulses obey,?O'er the web Arachne-like of Nature,--?Living Nature,--Love exerts her sway.
Laura, see how joyousness embraces?E'en the overflow of sorrows wild!?How e'en rigid desperation kindles?On the loving breast of Hope so mild.
Sisterly and blissful rapture softens?Gloomy Melancholy's fearful night,?And, deliver'd of its golden children,?Lo, the eye pours forth its radiance bright!
Does not awful Sympathy rule over?E'en the realms that Evil calls its own??For 'tis Hell our crimes are ever wooing,?While they bear a grudge 'gainst Heaven alone!
Shame, Repentance, pair Eumenides-like,?Weave round sin their fearful serpent-coils:?While around the eagle-wings of Greatness?Treach'rous danger winds its dreaded toils.
Ruin oft with Pride is wont to trifle,?Envy upon Fortune loves to cling;?On her brother, Death, with arms extended,?Lust, his sister, oft is wont to spring.
On the wings of Love the future hastens?In the arms of ages past to lie;?And Saturnus, as he onward speeds him,?Long hath sought his bride--Eternity!
Soon Saturnus will his bride discover,--?So the mighty oracle hath said;?Blazing worlds will turn to marriage torches?When Eternity with Time shall wed!
Then a fairer, far more beauteous morning,?Laura, on our love shall also shine,?Long as their blest bridal-night enduring:--?So rejoice thee, Laura--Laura mine!
TO LAURA AT THE HARPSICHORD.
When o'er the chords thy fingers stray,?My spirit leaves its mortal clay,?A statue there I stand;?Thy spell controls e'en life and death,?As when the nerves a living breath?Receive by Love's command! [1]
More gently zephyr sighs along?To listen to thy magic song;?The systems formed by heavenly love?To sing forever as they move,?Pause in their endless-whirling round?To catch the rapture-teeming sound;?'Tis for thy strains they worship thee,--?Thy look, enchantress, fetters me!
From yonder chords fast-thronging come?Soul-breathing notes with rapturous speed,?As when from out their heavenly home?The new-born seraphim proceed;?The strains pour forth their magic might,?As glittering suns burst through the night,?When, by Creation's storm awoke,?From chaos' giant-arm they broke.
Now sweet, as when the silv'ry wave?Delights the pebbly beach to lave;?And now majestic as the sound?Of rolling thunder gathering round;?Now pealing more loudly, as