Atta Troll. A Summer-Night's Dream - Caput 27
CAPUT XXVII
( TO AUGUST VARNHAGEN VON ENSE .)
" Where in heaven, Master Louis,
Did you ferret out and fish up
All this crass and crazy rubbish? "
D'Este the Cardinal exclaimed,
Reading Ariosto's poem
On the frenzy of Orlando,
Which was dedicated humbly
To his Eminence exalted.
Yes, my good old friend Varnhagen,
Yes, your lips, I see, are moving
With the very words he uttered,
With a smile as keen and subtle.
As you read I hear you laughing!
Yet at times the thoughtful furrows
In your lofty brow will deepen,
And old memories awaken.
" Was not that the very music
Of the dreams I dreamed by moonlight
In my youth, beside Chamisso,
And Brentano, and Fouque?
" Was not that the holy chiming
Of the long-lost forest chapel,
With the cap and bells familiar
In the pauses slyly jingling?
" Through the nightingale's sweet chorus
Booms the double-bass of bears,
Which, in turn, resolves and changes
Into soft and ghostly sighing.
" Here would madness pose as wisdom!
Here is wisdom gone demented!
Dying groans that in a moment
Cease, and bubble into laughter! "
Yes, the sounds, my friend, come ringing
From that time of dreams forgotten,
Though some modern trills and quavers
To the olden tunes are added.
And for all the gay bravado,
You will find despair in plenty —
To your charity long-proven
Be this poem, then, commended!
'Tis perhaps the last unfettered
Woodland song of the Romantic!
In our daylight din of battle
It will sadly die and cease.
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs!
What a cackling! It reminds one
Of the geese who saved the city.
What a chirping! 'Tis of sparrows,
In their claws a farthing rushlight,
Aping Jove's celestial eagles
With the awful thunderbolt!
What a cooing! 'Tis of doves,
Turtle-doves no longer lovers:
Haters now who, false to Venus,
Draw the chariot of Bellona!
What a buzzing shakes the world!
'Tis the loud colossal May-bugs
Of the spring-time of the people,
With insensate fury smitten.
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs! —
That belike would give me pleasure
Had I only other ears!
( TO AUGUST VARNHAGEN VON ENSE .)
" Where in heaven, Master Louis,
Did you ferret out and fish up
All this crass and crazy rubbish? "
D'Este the Cardinal exclaimed,
Reading Ariosto's poem
On the frenzy of Orlando,
Which was dedicated humbly
To his Eminence exalted.
Yes, my good old friend Varnhagen,
Yes, your lips, I see, are moving
With the very words he uttered,
With a smile as keen and subtle.
As you read I hear you laughing!
Yet at times the thoughtful furrows
In your lofty brow will deepen,
And old memories awaken.
" Was not that the very music
Of the dreams I dreamed by moonlight
In my youth, beside Chamisso,
And Brentano, and Fouque?
" Was not that the holy chiming
Of the long-lost forest chapel,
With the cap and bells familiar
In the pauses slyly jingling?
" Through the nightingale's sweet chorus
Booms the double-bass of bears,
Which, in turn, resolves and changes
Into soft and ghostly sighing.
" Here would madness pose as wisdom!
Here is wisdom gone demented!
Dying groans that in a moment
Cease, and bubble into laughter! "
Yes, the sounds, my friend, come ringing
From that time of dreams forgotten,
Though some modern trills and quavers
To the olden tunes are added.
And for all the gay bravado,
You will find despair in plenty —
To your charity long-proven
Be this poem, then, commended!
'Tis perhaps the last unfettered
Woodland song of the Romantic!
In our daylight din of battle
It will sadly die and cease.
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs!
What a cackling! It reminds one
Of the geese who saved the city.
What a chirping! 'Tis of sparrows,
In their claws a farthing rushlight,
Aping Jove's celestial eagles
With the awful thunderbolt!
What a cooing! 'Tis of doves,
Turtle-doves no longer lovers:
Haters now who, false to Venus,
Draw the chariot of Bellona!
What a buzzing shakes the world!
'Tis the loud colossal May-bugs
Of the spring-time of the people,
With insensate fury smitten.
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs! —
That belike would give me pleasure
Had I only other ears!
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