Читать книгу The Greatest German Classics (Vol. 1-14) - Various - Страница 228

When the Powers on high decree

For a feeble child of earth

Dire perplexity and woe,

And his spirit doom to pass

With tumult wild from joy to grief,

And back again from grief to joy,

In fearful alternation;

They in mercy then provide,

In the precincts of his home,

Or upon the distant shore,

That to him may never fail

Ready help in hours of need,

A tranquil, faithful friend.

Oh, bless, ye heavenly powers, our Pylades,

And whatsoever he may undertake!

He is in fight the vigorous arm of youth,

And his the thoughtful eye of age in counsel;

For tranquil is his soul; he guardeth there

Of calm a sacred and exhaustless dower,

And from its depths, in rich supply, outpours

Comfort and counsel for the sore distressed.

He tore me from my brother, upon whom,

With fond amaze, I gaz'd and gaz'd again;

I could not realize my happiness,

Nor loose him from my arms, and heeded not

The danger's near approach that threatens us.

To execute their project of escape,

They hasten to the sea, where in a bay

Their comrades in the vessel lie conceal'd

Waiting a signal. Me they have supplied

With artful answers, should the monarch send

To urge the sacrifice. Alas! I see

I must consent to follow like a child,

I have not learn'd deception, nor the art

To gain with crafty wiles my purposes.

Detested falsehood! it doth not relieve

The breast like words of truth: it comforts not,

But is a torment in the forger's heart,

And, like an arrow which a god directs,

Flies back and wounds the archer. Through my heart

One fear doth chase another; perhaps with rage,

Again on the unconsecrated shore,

The Furies' grisly band my brother seize.

Perchance they are surpris'd! Methinks, I hear

The tread of armèd men. A messenger

Is coming from the king, with hasty steps.

How throbs my heart, how troubled is my soul,

Now that I gaze upon the face of one,

Whom with a word untrue I must encounter!