The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original Metres · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
----- THOUGHTS ON JESUS CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL.
His dreaded glories shining forth; She sees Him clad in rolling thunder, She sees the rocks all quake with wonder, When God before her stands in wrath. She sees He comes her Judge to be, She feels the awful pangs inside her, Herself to slay endeavours she, But e'en this comfort is denied her. Now looks she back, with pains untold, Upon those happy times of old, When those glories gave her joy; When yet her heart revered the truth, When her glad soul, in endless youth And rapture dwelt, without alloy. She calls to mind with madden'd thought How over man her wiles prevail'd; To take revenge on God she sought, And feels the vengeance it entail'd. God was made man, and came to earth. Then Satan cried with fearful mirth: "E'en He my victim now shall be!" He sought to slay the Lord Most High, The world's Creator now must die; But, Satan, endless woe to thee! Thou thought'st to overcome Him then, Rejoicing in His suffering; But he in triumph comes again To bind thee: Death! where is thy sting? Speak, Hell! where is thy victory? Thy power destroy'd and scatter'd see! Know'st thou not now the Highest's might? See, Satan, see thy rule o'erthrown! By thousand-varying pangs weigh'd down, Thou dwell'st in dark and endless night.
As though by lightning struck thou liest, No gleam of rapture far or wide; In vain! no hope thou there decriest,-- For me alone Messiah died! A howling rises through the air, A trembling fills each dark vault there, When Christ to Hell is seen to come. She snarls with rage, but needs must cower Before our mighty hero's power; He signs--and Hell is straightway dumb. Before his voice the thunders break, On high His victor-banner blows; E'en angels at His fury quake, When Christ to the dread judgment goes. Now speaks He, and His voice is thunder, He speaks, the rocks are rent in sunder, His breath is like devouring flames. Thus speaks He: "Tremble, ye accurs'd! He who from Eden hurl'd you erst, Your kingdom's overthrow proclaims. Look up! My children once were ye, Your arms against Me then ye turn'd, Ye fell, that ye might sinners be, Ye've now the wages that ye earn'd. "My greatest foeman from that day, Ye led my dearest friends astray,-- As ye had fallen, man must fall. To kill him evermore ye sought, 'They all shall die the death,' ye thought; But howl! for Me I won them all. For them alone did I descend, For them pray'd, suffer'd, perish'd I. Ye ne'er shall gain your wicked end; Who trusts in Me shall never die.
Mingle the Graces, down from Olympus in secret descending, Here doth the minstrel hide, and list to their numbers enthralling, Here doth he watch their silent dances' mysterious measure. All that is glorious in Heaven, and all that the earth in her beauty Ever hath brought into life, the dreamer awake sees before him; All he repeats to the Muses, and lest the gods should be anger'd, How to tell of secrets discreetly, the Muses instruct him. WHEN Diogenes quietly sunn'd himself in his barrel, When Calanus with joy leapt in the flame-breathing grave, Oh, what noble lessons were those for the rash son of Philip, Were not the lord of the world e'en for instruction too great! EVEN this heavenly pair were unequally match'd when united: Psyche grew older and wise, Amor remain'd still a child, THOU dost complain of woman for changing from one to another? Censure her not: for she seeks one who will constant remain. WOULDST thou the blossoms of spring, as well as the fruits of the autumn, Wouldst thou what charms and delights, wouldst thou what plenteously, feeds, Would thou include both Heaven and earth in one designation, All that is needed is done, when I Sakontala name. EARLY one day, the Muse, when eagerly bent on adornment, Follow'd a swift-running streamlet, the quietest nook by it seeking. Quickly and noisily flowing, the changeful surface distorted Ever her moving form; the goddess departed in anger. Yet the stream call'd mockingly after her, saying: "What, truly! Wilt thou not view, then, the truth, in my mirror so clearly depicted?" But she already was far away, on the brink of the ocean, In her figure rejoicing, and duly arranging her garland.
DELOS' stately ruler, and Maia's son, the adroit one, Warmly were striving, for both sought the great prize to obtain. Hermes the lyre demanded, the lyre was claim'd by Apollo, Yet were the hearts of the foes fruitlessly nourish'd by hope. For on a sudden Ares burst in, with fury decisive, Dashing in twain the gold toy, brandishing wildly his sword. Hermes, malicious one, laughed beyond measure; yet deep-seated sorrow Seized upon Phoebus's heart, seized on the heart of each Muse. AMOR, not the child, the youthful lover of Psyche, Look'd round Olympus one day, boldly, to triumph inured; There he espied a goddess, the fairest amongst the immortals,-- Venus Urania she,--straight was his passion inflamed. Even the holy one powerless proved, alas! 'gainst his wooing,-- Tightly embraced in his arm, held her the daring one fast. Then from their union arose a new, a more beauteous Amor, Who from his father his wit, grace from his mother derives. Ever thou'lt find him join'd in the kindly Muses' communion, And his charm-laden bolt foundeth the love of the arts. KLOPSTOCK would lead us away from Pindus; no longer for laurel May we be eager--the homely acorn alone must content us; Yet he himself his more-than-epic crusade is conducting High on Golgotha's summit, that foreign gods he may honour! Yet, on what hill he prefers, let him gather the angels together, Suffer deserted disciples to weep o'er the grave of the just one: There where a hero and saint hath died, where a bard breath'd his numbers, Both for our life and our death an ensample of courage resplendent And of the loftiest human worth to bequeath,--ev'ry nation There will joyously kneel in devotion ecstatic, revering Thorn and laurel garland, and all its charms and its tortures.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.