Six Songs , opus 14

Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!

Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.

Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.

Her cabined ample spirit,
It fluttered and failed for breath.
Tonight it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death.

                Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
                     Bird thou never wert -
                 That from Heaven or near itor near it
                       Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

                Higher still and higher
                     From the earth thou springest,
                Like a cloud of fire;
                     The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

                In the golden lightning
                    Of the sunken sun,
                O'er which clouds are bright'ning,
                    Thou dost float and run,
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.

                 The pale purple even
                     Melts around thy flight;
                 Like a star of Heaven,
                     In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight -

                 Keen as are the arrows
                     Of that silver sphere
                 Whose intense lamp narrows
                     In the white dawn clear,
Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there.

                 All the earth and air
                    With thy voice is loud,
                 As, when night is bare,
                     From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflowed.

                 What thou art we know not;
                     What is most like thee?
                  From rainbow clouds there flow not
                     Drops so bright to see,
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody: -

                 Like a Poet hidden
                     In the light of thought,
                 Singing hymns unbidden,
                     Till the world is wrought 
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:

                 Like a high-born maiden
                     In a palace-tower,
                 Soothing her love-laden
                     Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:

                 Like a glow-worm golden
                     In a dell of dew,
                 Scattering unbeholden
                     Its aërial hue
Among the flowers and grass which screen it from the view:

                   Like a rose embowered
                       In its own green leaves,
                   By warm winds deflowered,
                       Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-wingèd thieves:

                   Sound of vernal showers
                       On the twinkling grass,
                   Rain-awakened flowers -
                       All that ever was
Joyous and clear and fresh - thy music doth surpass.

                    Teach us, Sprite or Bird,
                        What sweet thoughts are thine:
                     I have never heard
                         Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

                     Chorus hymeneal,
                         Or triumphal chant,
                    Matched with thine would be all
                         but an empty vaunt -
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.

                    What objects are the fountains
                        Of thy happy strain?
                    What fields, or waves, or mountains?
                        What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?

                     With thy clear keen joyance
                          Languor cannot be:
                     Shadow of annoyance
                         Never came near thee:
Thou lovest, but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.

                     Waking or asleep,
                         Thou of death must deem
                     Things more true and deep
                         Than we mortals dream,
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?

                     We look before and after,
                         And pine for what is not:
                     Our sincerest laughter
                         With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

                     Yet, if we could scorn
                        Hate and pride and fear,
                     If we were things born
                         Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.

                     Better than all measures
                         Of delightful sound,
                     Better than all treasures
                         That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

                     Teach me half the gladness
                         That thy brain must know;
                     Such harmonious madness
                         From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.

Now the bright crocus flames, and now
   The slim narcissus takes the rain,
And, straying o’er the mountain’s brow,
   The daffodilies bud again.
   The thousand blossoms wax and wane
On wold, and heath, and fragrant bough,
But fairer than the flowers art thou,
   Than any growth of hill or plain.

Ye gardens, cast your leafy crown,
That my Love’s feet may tread it down,
   Like lilies on the lilies set;
My Love, whose lips are softer far
Than drowsy poppy petals are,
   And sweeter than the violet!

There be none of Beauty's daughters
  With a magic like thee;
And like music on the waters
  Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The [charmèd]1 ocean's pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lull'd winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving
  Her bright chain o'er the deep;
Whose breast is gently heaving
  As an infant's asleep:
So the spirit bows before thee,
To listen and adore thee;
With a full but soft emotion,
Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

Entflieh mit mir und sei mein Weib,
Und ruh' an meinem Herzen aus;
Fern in der Fremde sei mein Herz
Dein Vaterland und Vaterhaus.

Gehst du nicht mit, ich sterbe hier
Und du bist einsam und allein;
Und bleibst du auch im Vaterhaus,
Wirst doch wie in der Fremde sein.

Es fiel ein Reif in der Frühlingsnacht,    
Es fiel auf die zarten Blaublümelein:
Sie sind verwelket, verdorrt.

Ein Jüngling hatte ein Mädchen lieb,
Sie flohen heimlich von Hause fort,
Es wußt' weder Vater noch Mutter.

Sie sind gewandert hin und her,
Sie haben gehabt weder Glück noch Stern,
Sie sind verdorben, gestorben.

Auf ihrem Grab, da steht eine Linde,
Drin pfeifen die Vögel und Abendwinde,
Und drunter sitzt, auf dem grünen Platz,
Der Müllersknecht mit seinem Schatz.

Die Winde, die wehen so lind und so schaurig,
Die Vögel, die singen so süß und so traurig:
Die schwatzenden Buhlen, die werden stumm,
Sie weinen und wissen selbst nicht warum.

Pour éviter l'ardeur du plus grand jour d'été,
Climène sur un lit dormait à demi-nue,
Dans un état si beau qu'elle eût même tenté
L'humeur la plus pudique et la plus retenue.
Sa jupe permettait de voir en liberté
Ce périt lieu charmant qu'elle cache à la vue.
Le centre de l'amour et de la volupté,
La cause du beau feu qui m'enflamme et me tue.
Mille objets ravissants, en cette occasion,
Bannissant mon respect et ma discrétion,
Me firent embrasser cette belle dormeuse.
Alors elle s'éveille à cet effort charmant,
Et s'écrie aussitôt : Ah ! que je suis heureuse !
Les biens, comme l'on dit, me viennent en dormant.