Súch as between us now, till thou 'rt installed
And in complete possession; of itself
Then ceáses all communion, useless grown;
Ánd thou art léft in thy beatitude,
Untouched, unstirred, through all eternity;
Without all care, all passion, hope and fear;
Nóthing to do or suffer, seek or avoid."
"Then bring me, ere communion wholly ceases,
Quick bring me to my mother's sainted spirit.
Mainly that I might ónce more see my mother,
Knów and embrace and to my bosom préss her,
Lónged I for Heáven; quíck, kind conductor, quick."
"Thou hast no mother, spirit; néver hadst.
Spirits engender not, nor are engendered.
She whom thou call'st thy mother, was the mother
Nót of thy spíritual, but thy fleshly nature.
Thou, spirit, com'st from God, and having dwelt
Some few, brief seasons in the fleshly body
Engéndered by the flesh thou call'st thy mother
Retúrn'st, by me condúcted, back to Heaven,
Leaving behind thee in the Earth to rot
The consanguineous flesh, mother and son."
"Then bring me to the spirit that sometime
Dwélt in that flesh which mixed with other flesh
The flesh engendered which, below on Earth,
So long as it lived, afforded me kind shelter."
"Thou know'st not what thou ask'st, scarce spiritual spirit;
Éven were communion possible in Heaven
Twixt spirits which on Earth had grown acquainted
Through th' áccident of having inhabited
Related bodies, such communion were
In this case out of the question, for the spirit
Which chanced to have its 'dwelling in that flesh'
By which the flesh in which thou dwelt'st on Earth
Was génerated, is not here in Heaven,
But down, down, down at the other side of the Earth,
Dówn in the dépths of Hell, for ever there.
Condémned by the unchangeable decree
Óf the Allmérciful, to writhe in torment."
He said, or seemed to say; with horror struck
I shriéked, methought, and swooned, and know no more.
TROMPETER - SCHLOESSCHEN, DRESDEN, June 11, 1854.
By a shallow, púrling streámlet,
Sát a lovely maiden weeping:
"Mén are fálse; I álways thought so;
Nów, alás! at lást I know it.
"Breák, tough heart; why thrób on lónger
Mócked, forsáken ánd despairing?
In this brook here I would drówn me
Wére there bút enough of water."
Bý a deep and rápid ríver
Néxt day sits the weeping maiden,
Eyes the flood a while, then shúddering
Ríses and away walks slówly:
"Mén are fálse; I always thought so;
Nów, alás! at lást, I know it.
Néxt time thát a mán deceives me
Í 'll know where to find deep water." TROMPETER - SCHLOESSCHEN, DRESDEN, June 8, 1854.
"WHAT dóg is thát, Sir, tell me, pray,
That by my side the livelong day,
Where'ér I go - up, down, left, right
Trots steady while the sun shines bright,
But when the sky begins to lower
And gathering clouds portend a shower,
Sneaks prúdent off, and far away
Liés in safe shélter till Sol's ray
Breaks out once more on hill and plain,
When ló! he 's at my side again?"
"Your cómrade of the sunny ray,
That leaves you on a cloudy day,
Pácks up his tráps and runs away
I'd not my time hair-splitting spend
Must be your shadow or your friend."
Walking from BERTRICH to MEHREN, in the EIFEL (RHENISH PRUSSIA); Octob. 31, 1854.
"IF well thou wouldst get through this troublesome world,” Said once a dying father to his son
Who at his bedside weeping asked his counsel,
"Thou múst to these two principal points attend:
First, thou must never dare to wear thy shoes
With broad, square toes while narrow-pointed shoes
Are áll the fashion. Second, thou must never
Assért God's unity when all around.
Maintain he 's triune. Thése are the two points
On which especially thy fortune hinges."
"But if my neighbours are among themselves
Divided on these points, and some their shoes
Wear square-toed and maintain God's unity,
While some their shoes wear with long narrow toes
And swear that God was never but triúne,
What then, dear father? how am I to judge?”
"Hóld with the strongest party, for the strongest
Has álways right. If balanced are the parties,
Espécially if they wage civil war
Against each other, thou art free to use
The liberty which honest men acquire
When knáves fall oút, and if thou pleasest wear
Thy shoés even round-toed and declare thy faith
Either in nóne or in a dual God."
This said, the wise old man hiccup'd and died;
And the son, éver from that day forth moulding
Both shoes and creed according to the counsel,
Lived honored and respected, rose to wealth
And power and dignity and on his deathbed
Léft to his son again the talisman.
Walking from ST. GALL to SCHWELLBRUNN in CANTON APPENZELL, Sept. 15, 1854.
ANOTHER and another and another
And still another sunset and sunrise,
The same yet different, different yet the same,
Seen by me now in my declining years
As in my early childhood, youth and manhood;
And by my parents and my parents' parents,
And by the parents of my parents' parents,
And by their parents counted back for ever,
Seén, all their lives long, even as now by me;
And by my children and my childrens' children
And by the children of my childrens' children
And by their children counted on for ever
Still to be seen as even now seen by me;
Clear and bright sometimes, sómetimes dark and clouded
But still the same sunsetting and sunrise;
The same for ever to the never ending
Líne of obsérvers, to the same observer
Through all the changes of his life the same:
Sunsétting and sunrising and sunsetting,
And then again sunrising and sunsetting,
Sunrising and sunsétting evermore.
HEIDELBERG, Octob. 25, 1854.
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