Prince Amadis: 141ÔÇô150
CXLI.
Even such is thy round in this beautiful ring,
An air-rooted, windshaken, unlife-like thing,
Perfuming for no one night's untrodden bowers,
With no holier pain than a headache of flowers.
CXLII.
When could others awaken fond youth from a dream?
It must wake of itself: for it flows like a stream, —
It is gone while we speak, its swift currents unbinding;
Its home is in seeking, its exile in finding!
CXLIII.
In love have we spoken, for this Prince is our brother;
But one beauty reminds him far off of another,
And, ere we had time our advice to rehearse,
Twice or thrice has he gone round the whole universe.
CXLIV.
O see how he wheels up aloft in the air!
Heavy wisdom from earth cannot reach to him there;
Now he drops, but it is in the thick of yon wood,
Where precipitous rocks overhang the dark flood.
CXLV.
There again! he has left us in lightning-like flight,
And is hidden far up in the whiteness of light,
Whence faint sparkles fall like a rocket-shower breaking,
Where from pinions unseen the soft motes he is shaking.
CXLVI.
Then down the blue waters of islandless ocean
He dives, like the gale, with exulting emotion,
Now passively floats as the frolic wind blows him,
Now tunnels the crests of cold brine that oppose him.
CXLVII.
When he teases the earth in his low-drooping flight
It is not home draws him, he will not alight;
He but skims, like a swallow, in swift mazy rings,
And feeds, like the bird, on invisible things.
CXLVIII.
When he hovers o'er earth it is only to sing,
Beating time for himself with his vibrating wing;
While the hot spell is on him perforce must he roam,
For an uneasy heart is most homeless at home.
CXLIX
He has thoughts, so he thinks, above all thoughts of ours,
Inconceivable echoes from heavenly bowers;
He has words, so he says, which we always mistake,
And a silence of song which we rude mortals break.
CL.
Ah! little he deems how much deeper a thing
Is the action of life, a more bountiful spring
Of beauty, of wonder, of truth, and of power,
A joy more long-lived, a more heavenly dower.
Even such is thy round in this beautiful ring,
An air-rooted, windshaken, unlife-like thing,
Perfuming for no one night's untrodden bowers,
With no holier pain than a headache of flowers.
CXLII.
When could others awaken fond youth from a dream?
It must wake of itself: for it flows like a stream, —
It is gone while we speak, its swift currents unbinding;
Its home is in seeking, its exile in finding!
CXLIII.
In love have we spoken, for this Prince is our brother;
But one beauty reminds him far off of another,
And, ere we had time our advice to rehearse,
Twice or thrice has he gone round the whole universe.
CXLIV.
O see how he wheels up aloft in the air!
Heavy wisdom from earth cannot reach to him there;
Now he drops, but it is in the thick of yon wood,
Where precipitous rocks overhang the dark flood.
CXLV.
There again! he has left us in lightning-like flight,
And is hidden far up in the whiteness of light,
Whence faint sparkles fall like a rocket-shower breaking,
Where from pinions unseen the soft motes he is shaking.
CXLVI.
Then down the blue waters of islandless ocean
He dives, like the gale, with exulting emotion,
Now passively floats as the frolic wind blows him,
Now tunnels the crests of cold brine that oppose him.
CXLVII.
When he teases the earth in his low-drooping flight
It is not home draws him, he will not alight;
He but skims, like a swallow, in swift mazy rings,
And feeds, like the bird, on invisible things.
CXLVIII.
When he hovers o'er earth it is only to sing,
Beating time for himself with his vibrating wing;
While the hot spell is on him perforce must he roam,
For an uneasy heart is most homeless at home.
CXLIX
He has thoughts, so he thinks, above all thoughts of ours,
Inconceivable echoes from heavenly bowers;
He has words, so he says, which we always mistake,
And a silence of song which we rude mortals break.
CL.
Ah! little he deems how much deeper a thing
Is the action of life, a more bountiful spring
Of beauty, of wonder, of truth, and of power,
A joy more long-lived, a more heavenly dower.
Translation:
Language:
Reviews
No reviews yet.