I.
A bridge of pearls its form uprears
High oer a gray and
misty sea;
Een in a moment it appears,
And rises upwards giddily.
Beneath its arch can find a road
The loftiest vessels
mast most high,
Itself hath never borne a load,
And seems, when thou drawst
near, to fly.
It comes first with the stream,
and goes
Soon as the watery flood is
dried.
Where may be found this bridge,
disclose,
And who its beauteous form
supplied!
II.
It bears thee many a mile away,
And yet its place it changes
neer;
It has no pinions to display,
And yet conducts thee through
the air.
It is the bark of swiftest motion
That every weary wanderer bore;
With speed of thought the greatest ocean
It carries thee in safety oer;
One moment wafts thee to the shore.
III.
Upon a spacious meadow play
Thousands of sheep, of silvery hue;
And as we see them move to-day,
The man most aged saw them too.
They neer grow old, and,
from a rill
That never dries, their life is drawn;
A shepherd watches oer them still,
With curved and beauteous silver horn.
He drives them out through gates
of gold,
And every night their number
counts;
Yet neer has lost, of all
his fold,
One lamb, though oft that
path he mounts.
A hound attends him faithfully,
A nimble ram precedes the
way;
Canst thou point out that flock
to me,
And who the shepherd, canst
thou say?
IV.
There stands a dwelling, vast and
tall,
On unseen columns fair;
No wanderer treads or leaves its
hall,
And none can linger there.
Its wondrous structure first was
planned
With art no mortal knows;
It lights the lamps with its own
hand
Mongst which it brightly
glows.
It has a roof, as crystal bright,
Formed of one gem of dazzling
light;
Yet mortal eye has neer
Seen Him who placed it there.
V.
Within a well two buckets lie,
One mounts, and one descends;
When one is full, and rises high,
The other downward wends.
They wander ever to and fro-
Now empty are, now overflow.
If to the mouth thou liftest this,
That hangs within the dark abyss.
In the same moment they can neer
Refresh thee with their treasures fair.
VI.
Knowst thou the form on tender
ground?
It gives itself its glow, its light;
And though each moment changing found.
Is ever whole and ever bright.
In narrow compass tis confined,
Within the smallest frame it lies;
Yet all things great that move thy mind,
That form alone to thee supplies.
And canst thou, too, the crystal
name?
No gem can equal it in worth;
It gleams, yet kindles near to flame,
It sucks in even all the earth.
Within its bright and wondrous ring
Is pictured forth the glow of heaven,
And yet it mirrors back each thing
Far fairer than to it twas given.
VII.
For ages an edifice here has been
found,
It is not a dwelling, it is not a Pane;
A horseman for hundreds of days may ride round,
Yet the end of his journey he neer can
attain.
Full many a century oer it
has passed,
The might of the storm and of time it defies!
Neath the rainbow of Heaven stands free to the
last,-
In the ocean it dips, and soars up to the skies.
It was not vain glory that bade its erection,
It serves as a refuge, a shield, a protection;
Its like on the earth never yet has been known
And yet by mans hand it is fashioned alone.
VIII.
Among all serpents there is one,
Born of no earthly breed;
In fury wild it stands alone,
And in its matchless speed.
With fearful voice and headlong
force
It rushes on its prey,
And sweeps the rider and his horse
In one fell swoop away.
The highest point it loves to gain;
And neither bar nor lock
Its fiery onslaught can restrain;
And arms-invite
its shock.
It tears in twain like tender grass,
The strongest forest-trees;
It grinds to dust the hardened brass,
Though stout and firm it be.
And yet this beast, that none can
tame,
Its threat neer twice
fulfils;
It dies in its self-kindled flame.
And dies een when it
kills.
IX.
We children six our being had
From a most strange and wondrous
pair,-
Our mother ever grave and sad,
Our father ever free from
care.
Our virtues we from both receive,-
Meekness from her, from him
our light;
And so in endless youth we weave
Round thee a circling figure
bright.
We ever shun the caverns black,
And revel in the glowing day;
Tis we who light the worlds
dark track,
With our lifes clear
and magic ray.
Springs joyful harbingers
are we,
And her inspiring streams
we swell;
And so the house of death we flee,
For life alone must round
us dwell.
Without us is no perfect bliss,
When man is glad, we, too,
attend,
And when a monarch worshipped is,
To him our majesty attend.
X.
What is the thing esteemed by few?
The monarchs hand it
decks with pride,
Yet it is made to injure too,
And to the sword is most allied.
No blood it sheds, yet many a wound
Inflicts,-gives
wealth, yet takes from none;
Has vanquished een the earths
wide round,
And makes lifes current
smoothly run.
The greatest kingdoms it has framed,
The oldest cities reared from
dust,
Yet wars fierce torch has
neer inflamed;
Happy are they who in it trust!
XI.
I live within a dwelling of stone,
There buried in slumber I
dally;
Yet, armed with a weapon of iron
alone,
The foe to encounter I sally.
At first Im invisible, feeble,
and mean,
And oer me thy breath
has dominion;
Im easily drowned in a raindrop
een,
Yet in victory waxes my pinion.
When my sister, all-powerful, gives
me her hand,
To the terrible lord of the world
I expand.
XII.
Upon a disk my course I trace,
There restlessly forever flit;
Small is the circuit I embrace,
Two hands suffice to cover it.
Yet ere that field I traverse, I
Full many a thousand mile must go,
Een though with tempest-speed I fly,
Swifter than arrow from a bow.
XIII.
A bird it is, whose rapid motion
With eagles flight divides the air;
A fish it is, and parts the ocean,
That bore a greater monster neer;
An elephant it is, whose rider
On his broad back a tower has put:
Tis like the reptile base, the spider,
Whenever it extends its foot;
And when, with iron tooth projecting,
It seeks its own life-blood to drain,
On footing firm, itself erecting,
It braves the raging hurricane.
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