Then spake he: "Although I have convinced thee That this art I understand full surely, Yet the hardest still is left to show thee."Thereupon he traced, with pointed finger, And with anxious care, upon the forest, At the utmost verge, where the strong sunbeams From the shining ground appear'd reflected,Traced the figure of a lovely maiden, Fair in form, and clad in graceful fashion, Fresh the cheeks beneath her brown locks' ambush, And the cheeks possess'd the selfsame colour As the finger that had served to paint them.
"Oh thou boy!" exclaim'd I then, "what master In his school received thee as his pupil, Teaching thee so truthfully and quickly Wisely to begin, and well to finish?"Whilst I still was speaking, lo, a zephyr Softly rose, and set the tree-tops moving, Curling all the wavelets on the river, And the perfect maiden's veil, too, fill'd it, And to make my wonderment still greater, Soon the maiden set her foot in motion.
On she came, approaching tow'rd the station Where still sat I with my arch instructor.
As now all, yes, all thus moved together,--Flowers, river, trees, the veil,--all moving,--And the gentle foot of that most fair one, Can ye think that on my rock I linger'd, Like a rock, as though fast-chain'd and silent?
1788.
GOD, SOUL, AND WORLD.
RHYMED DISTICHS.
[The Distichs, of which these are given as a specimen, are about forty in number.]
WHO trusts in God, Fears not His rod.
THIS truth may be by all believed:
Whom God deceives, is well deceived.
HOW? when? and where?--No answer comes from high;Thou wait'st for the Because, and yet thou ask'st not Why?
IF the whole is ever to gladden thee, That whole in the smallest thing thou must see.
WATER its living strength first shows, When obstacles its course oppose.
TRANSPARENT appears the radiant air, Though steel and stone in its breast it may bear;At length they'll meet with fiery power, And metal and stones on the earth will shower.
-WHATE'ER a living flame may surround, No longer is shapeless, or earthly bound.
'Tis now invisible, flies from earth, And hastens on high to the place of its birth.
1815.
-PROCEMION.
IN His blest name, who was His own creation, Who from all time makes making his vocation;The name of Him who makes our faith so bright, Love, confidence, activity, and might;In that One's name, who, named though oft He be, Unknown is ever in Reality:
As far as ear can reach, or eyesight dim, Thou findest but the known resembling Him;How high so'er thy fiery spirit hovers, Its simile and type it straight discovers Onward thou'rt drawn, with feelings light and gay, Where'er thou goest, smiling is the way;No more thou numbrest, reckonest no time, Each step is infinite, each step sublime.
1816.
WHAT God would outwardly alone control, And on his finger whirl the mighty Whole?
He loves the inner world to move, to view Nature in Him, Himself in Nature too, So that what in Him works, and is, and lives, The measure of His strength, His spirit gives.
1816.
WITHIN us all a universe doth dwell;
And hence each people's usage laudable, That ev'ry one the Best that meets his eyes As God, yea e'en his God, doth recognise;To Him both earth and heaven surrenders he, Fears Him, and loves Him too, if that may be.
1816.
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS.
THOU art confused, my beloved, at, seeing the thousandfold unionShown in this flowery troop, over the garden dispers'd;any a name dost thou hear assign'd; one after anotherFalls on thy list'ning ear, with a barbarian sound.
None resembleth another, yet all their forms have a likeness;Therefore, a mystical law is by the chorus proclaim'd;Yes, a sacred enigma! Oh, dearest friend, could I onlyHappily teach thee the word, which may the mystery solve!
Closely observe how the plant, by little and little progressing,Step by step guided on, changeth to blossom and fruit!
First from the seed it unravels itself, as soon as the silentFruit-bearing womb of the earth kindly allows Its escape, And to the charms of the light, the holy, the ever-in-motion,Trusteth the delicate leaves, feebly beginning to shoot.
Simply slumber'd the force in the seed; a germ of the future,Peacefully lock'd in itself, 'neath the integument lay, Leaf and root, and bud, still void of colour, and shapeless;Thus doth the kernel, while dry, cover that motionless life.
Upward then strives it to swell, in gentle moisture confiding,And, from the night where it dwelt, straightway ascendeth to light.
Yet still simple remaineth its figure, when first it appeareth;And 'tis a token like this, points out the child 'mid the plants.
Soon a shoot, succeeding it, riseth on high, and reneweth,Piling-up node upon node, ever the primitive form;Yet not ever alike: for the following leaf, as thou seest,Ever produceth itself, fashioned in manifold ways.
Longer, more indented, in points and in parts more divided,Which.all-deform'd until now, slept in the organ below, So at length it attaineth the noble and destined perfection,Which, in full many a tribe, fills thee with wondering awe.
Many ribb'd and tooth'd, on a surface juicy and swelling,Free and unending the shoot seemeth in fullness to be;Yet here Nature restraineth, with powerful hands, the formation,And to a perfecter end, guideth with softness its growth, Less abundantly yielding the sap, contracting the vessels,So that the figure ere long gentler effects doth disclose.
Soon and in silence is check'd the growth of the vigorous branches,And the rib of the stalk fuller becometh in form.
Leafless, however, and quick the tenderer stem then up-springeth,And a miraculous sight doth the observer enchant.
Ranged in a circle, in numbers that now are small, and now countless,Gather the smaller-sized leaves, close by the side of their like.
Round the axis compress'd the sheltering calyx unfoldeth,And, as the perfectest type, brilliant-hued coronals forms.
Thus doth Nature bloom, in glory still nobler and fuller,Showing, in order arranged, member on member uprear'd.
