Wreathe in a garland the corns
golden ear!
With it, the Cyane blue
intertwine
Rapture must render each glance
bright and clear,
For the great queen is approaching
her shrine,-
She who compels lawless passions
to cease,
Who to link man with his fellow
has come,
And into firm habitations of peace
Changed the rude tents
ever-wandering home.
Shyly in the mountain-cleft
Was the Troglodyte concealed;
And the roving Nomad left,
Desert lying, each broad field.
With the javelin, with the bow,
Strode the hunter through
the land;
To the hapless stranger woe,
Billow-cast on that wild strand!
When, in her sad wanderings lost,
Seeking traces of her child,
Ceres hailed the dreary coast,
Ah, no verdant plain then
smiled!
That she here with trust may stay,
None vouchsafes a sheltering
roof;
Not a temples columns gay
Give of godlike worship proof.
Fruit of no propitious ear
Bids her to the pure feast
fly;
On the ghastly altars here
Human bones alone eer
dry.
Far as she might onward rove,
Misery found she still in
all,
And within her soul of love,
Sorrowed she oer mans
deep fall.
Is it thus I find the man
To whom we our image lend,
Whose fair limbs of noble span
Upward towards the heavens
ascend?
Laid we not before his feet
Earths unbounded godlike
womb?
Yet upon his kingly seat
Wanders he without a home?
Does no god compassion feel?
Will none of the blissful
race,
With an arm of miracle,
Raise him from his deep disgrace?
In the heights where rapture reigns
Pangs of others neer
can move;
Yet mans anguish and mans
pains
My tormented heart must prove.
So that a man a man may be,
Let him make an endless bond
With the kind earth trustingly,
Who is ever good and fond
To revere the law of time,
And the moons melodious
song
Who, with silent step sublime,
Move their sacred course along.
And she softly parts the cloud
That conceals her from the
sight;
Sudden, in the savage crowd,
Stands she, as a goddess bright.
There she finds the concourse rude
In their glad feast revelling,
And the chalice filled with blood
As a sacrifice they bring.
But she turns her face away,
Horror-struck, and speaks
the while
Bloody tiger-feasts neer
may
Of a god the lips defile,
He needs victims free from stain,
Fruits matured by autumns
sun;
With the pure gifts of the plain
Honored is the Holy One!
And she takes the heavy shaft
From the hunters cruel
hand;
With the murderous weapons
haft
Furrowing the light-strown
sand,-
Takes from out her garlands
crown,
Filled with life, one single
grain,
Sinks it in the furrow down,
And the germ soon swells amain.
And the green stalks gracefully
Shoot, ere long, the ground
above,
And, as far as eye can see,
Waves it like a golden grove.
With her smile the earth she cheers,
Binds the earliest sheaves
so fair,
As her hearth the landmark rears,-
And the goddess breathes this
prayer:
Father Zeus, who reignst
oer all
That in ethers mansions
dwell,
Let a sign from thee now fall
That thou lovst this
offering well!
And from the unhappy crowd
That, as yet, has neer
known thee,
Take away the eyes dark cloud,
Showing them their deity!
Zeus, upon his lofty throne,
Harkens to his sisters
prayer;
From the blue heights thundering
down,
Hurls his forked lightning
there,
Crackling, it begins to blaze,
From the altar whirling bounds,-
And his swift-winged eagle plays
High above in circling rounds.
Soon at the feet of their mistress
are kneeling,
Filled with emotion, the rapturous
throng;
Into humanitys earliest feeling
Melt their rude spirits, untutored
and strong.
Each bloody weapon behind them they
leave,
Rays on their senses beclouded
soon shine,
And from the mouth of the queen
they receive,
Gladly and meekly, instruction
divine.
All the deities advance
Downward from their heavenly
seats;
Themis self tis leads
the dance,
And, with staff of justice,
metes
Unto every one his rights,-
Landmarks, too, tis
hers to fix;
And in witness she invites
All the hidden powers of Styx.
And the forge-god, too, is there,
The inventive son of Zeus;
Fashioner of vessels fair
Skilled in clay and brasss
use.
Tis from him the art man
knows
Tongs and bellows how to wield;
Neath his hammers
heavy blows
Was the ploughshare first
revealed.
With projecting, weighty spear,
Front of all, Minerva stands,
Lifts her voice so strong and clear,
And the godlike host commands.
Steadfast walls tis hers
to found,
Shield and screen for every
one,
That the scattered world around
Bind in loving unison.
The immortals steps she guides
Oer the trackless plains
so vast,
And whereer her foot abides
Is the boundary god held fast;
And her measuring chain is led
Round the mountains
border green,-
Een the raging torrents
bed
In the holy ring is seen.
All the Nymphs and Oreads too
Who, the mountain pathways
oer,
Swift-foot Artemis pursue,
All to swell the concourse,
pour,
Brandishing the hunting-spear,-
Set to work,-glad
shouts uprise,-
Neath their axes blows
so clear
Crashing down the pine-wood
flies.
Een the sedge-crowned God
ascends
From his verdant spring to
light,
And his rafts direction bends
At the goddess word
of might,-
While the hours, all gently bound,
Nimbly to their duty fly;
Rugged trunks are fashioned round
By her skilled hand gracefully.
Een the sea-god thither fares;-
Sudden, with his tridents
blow,
He the granite columns tears
From earths entrails
far below;-
In his mighty hands, on high,
Waves he them, like some light
ball,
And with nimble Hermes by,
Raises up the rampart-wall.
But from out the golden strings
Lures Apollo harmony,
Measured times sweet murmurings,
And the might of melody.
The Camoenae swell the strain
With their song of ninefold
tone:
Captive bound in musics chain,
Softly stone unites to stone.
Cybele, with skilful hand,
Open throws the wide-winged
door;
Locks and bolts by her are planned,
Sure to last forevermore.
Soon complete the wondrous halls
By the gods own hands
are made,
And the temples glowing walls
Stand in festal pomp arrayed.
With a crown of myrtle twined,
Now the goddess queen comes
there,
And she leads the fairest hind
To the shepherdess most fair.
Venus, with her beauteous boy,
That first pair herself attires;
All the gods bring gifts of joy,
Blessing their loves
sacred fires.
Guided by the deities,
Soon the new-born townsmen
pour,
Ushered in with harmonies,
Through the friendly open
door.
Holding now the rites divine,
Ceres at Zeus altar
stands,-
Blessing those around the shrine,
Thus she speaks, with folded
hands:-
Freedoms love the
beast inflames,
And the god rules free in
air,
While the law of Nature tames
Each wild lust that lingers
there.
Yet, when thus together thrown,
Man with man must fain unite;
And by his own worth alone
Can he freedom gain, and might.
Wreathe in a garland the corns
golden ear!
With it, the Cyane blue intertwine!
Rapture must render each glance
bright and clear,
For the great queen is approaching
her shrine,-
She who our homesteads so blissful
has given,
She who has man to his fellow-man
bound:
Let our glad numbers extol then
to heaven,
Her who the earths
kindly mother is found!
© e-libr.com
feedback