Classic Poem

The goddess hastened and made me the tea,
And then with the rum she braced it;
As for herself, she drank the rum
And left the tea untasted.

She leaned on my shoulder — the mural crown
Which adorned her head so neatly
Became, in consequence, rather crushed,
And she said to me low and sweetly,

" I have often thought with misgiving sore,
What a pity that dear man tarries
Uncared for among the frivolous French,
In the wicked town of Paris.

" You wander about in an aimless way;
You have not even beside you
A German publisher, faithful and wise,
As a Mentor to guard and guide you.

" And so many sylphs are weak and frail;
The temptations are truly appalling.
It is easy, alas! one's peace of soul
To lose beyond recalling.

" Return not to Paris, but stay with us here,
Where manners and morals obtain still.
Oh, pleasures in plenty and quiet delights
Unchidden among us remain still.

" Yes, stop with us here, in your native town;
You will relish it more than you once did.
You, yourself, must see we have also progressed:
No longer we do as each dunce did.

" The censor, besides, is now far less strict,
Our Hoffmann's grown old and mellow.
At your Reisebilder he slashes no more
As when young — he's a kindly old fellow.

" There is much you rebelled at that now you'll accept
You yourself have grown wiser and older.
You may even be able to think of the past
With less rancour, now passion is colder.

" Tis exaggeration to say that all
Was wrong that we here at home did.
You could always by suicide sever your bonds,
As the slaves of ancient Rome did.

" The mass of the people have always enjoyed
Their freedom of thought unstinted.
Repression and gagging were strictly confined
To the limited number who printed.

" And tyranny never held absolute sway;
Even demagogues, though they contemned them,
They only deprived of a citizen's rights
When they duly had judged and condemned them.

" No, Germany never was quite so bad,
Not even when ruder and younger.
In a German prison — I give you my word —
No man ever died of hunger.

" In the past, I assure you, there blossomed still
Quite a cheering manifestation
Of pious belief, and warmth of heart;
Now all is doubt and negation.

" The ideal we cherished within our souls
Will be slain by this rational, chilly,
External freedom of thought and act —
'Twas as pure as the dream of a lily.

" And our poetry, languishing even now,
The future will blatantly smother.
The Moorish king of Freiligrath
Will perish like many another.

" Our grandsons will eat and drink, no fear,
But not in contemplative quiet;
The idyllic in art will be swept from the boards,
For a romping, spectacular riot.

" I would break the seals of the Book of Fate.
Could you hold your tongue; and, peeping
In my magic glass, you might even behold
What the future has in its keeping.

" The secret that never a mortal yet
Has wrung from my lips I'd show you —
The future awaiting your Fatherland;
But you could not be silent: I know you! "

" O goddess! to learn what time has in store
For my country, " I cried in a flutter,
" Would give me the greatest conceivable joy.
Not a word would I ever utter.

" To assure you your secret is safe with me
I shall not shrink from using
The dreadest of oaths. Say, how shall I swear?
The form shall be of your choosing. "

The goddess replied that the form of oath
Whose binding power would most please her,
Was the one which Abraham employed
When he sent forth Eliezer.

" Lift up my tunic and place your hand
Upon my thigh below it,
And swear that those secrets you neither will tell
As a man, nor write as a poet. "

'Twas a solemn moment. The breath of the Past
Seemed to fan me and hover o'er me,
While, obeying the order, I made my vow
As the patriarchs did before me.

I lifted the tunic and laid my hand
On the goddess's thigh, in token
That the silence I promised in pen and in speech
Would remain till death unbroken.