Now serious am, now seek to please;
Now love and hate in turn one sees;
The motives now are those, now these;
Now nothings, now realities.
Thus roll I, never taking ease,
My tub, like Saint Diogenes.
Similar Posts
HASTEN thee, Kronos!
Downhill goeth thy path;Loathsome dizziness ever,When thou delayest, assails me.Quick, rattle along,Over stock and stone let thy trotInto life straightway leadNow once moreUp the toilsome ascentHasten, panting for breath!Up, then, nor idle be,–Striving and hoping, up, up!Wide, high, glorious the viewGazing round upon life,While from mount unto mountHovers the spirit eterne,Life eternal foreboding.Sideways a roof’s…
HE.
‘Neath the shadow of the lindens yonder,–Where I’d fain one moment cease to wander,–Food and drink to one so heavy laden?SHE.Wouldst thou find refreshment, traveller weary,Bread, ripe fruit and cream to meet thy wishes,–None but Nature’s plain and homely dishes,–Near the spring may soothe thy wanderings dreary.HE.Dreams of old acquaintance now pass through me,Ne’er-forgotten queen…
ACT II.
HIS bow and dart bearing,And torch brightly flaring,Dan Cupid on flies;With victory laden,To vanquish each maidenHe roguishly tries.Up! up!On! on!His arms rattle loudly,His wings rustle proudly,And flames fill his eyes.Then finds he each bosomDefenseless and bare;They gladly receive himAnd welcome him there.The point of his arrowsHe lights in the glow;They clasp him and kiss himAnd…
THE warder looks down at the mid hour of night,
The moon fills the place with her silvery light,And the churchyard like day seems to glow.When see! first one grave, then another opes wide,And women and men stepping forth are descried,In cerements snow-white and trailing.In haste for the sport soon their ankles they twitch,And whirl round in dances so gay;The young and the old, and…
YOUTH.
From out my house, I tell thee!Or else I needs must, in my wrath,Expel thee!What’s this thou singest so falsely, forsooth,Of love and a maiden’s silent truth?Who’ll trust to such a story!GIPSY.I sing of a maid’s repentant fears,And long and bitter yearning;Her levity’s changed to truth and tearsAll-burning.She dreads no more the threats of her…
THE look that thy sweet eyes on mine impress
He who, like me, hath knowledge sure of this,Can he in aught beside find happiness?Removed from thee, friend-sever’d, in distress,These thoughts I vainly struggle to dismiss:They still return to that one hour of bliss,The only one; then tears my grief confess.But unawares the tear makes haste to dry:He loves, methinks, e’en to these glades so…