the complete poetical works-第192部分
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Ah! thou confessest his name; so follow likewise his example;
Think of thy brother no ill; but throw a veil over his failings;
Guide the erring aright; for the good; the heavenly shepherd
Took the lost lamb in his arms; and bore it back to its mother。
This is the fruit of Love; and it is by its fruits that we know
it。
Love is the creature's welfare; with God; but Love among mortals
Is but an endless sigh! He longs; and endures; and stands
waiting;
Suffers and yet rejoices; and smiles with tears on his eyelids。
Hope;so is called upon earth; his recompense; Hope; the
befriending;
Does what she can; for she points evermore up to heaven; and
faithful
Plunges her anchor's peak in the depths of the grave; and
beneath it
Paints a more beautiful world; a dim; but a sweet play of
shadows!
Races; better than we; have leaned on her wavering promise;
Having naught else but Hope。 Then praise we our Father in
heaven;
Him; who has given us more; for to us has Hope been
transfigured;
Groping no longer in night; she is Faith; she is living
assurance。
Faith is enlightened Hope; she is light; is the eye of
affection;
Dreams of the longing interprets; and carves their visions in
marble。
Faith is the sun of life ; and her countenance shines like the
Hebrew's;
For she has looked upon God; the heaven on its stable foundation
Draws she with chains down to earth; and the New Jerusalem
sinketh
Splendid with portals twelve in golden vapors descending。
There enraptured she wanders。 and looks at the figures majestic;
Fears not the winged crowd; in the midst of them all is her
homestead。
Therefore love and believe; for works will follow spontaneous
Even as day does the sun; the Right from the Good is an
offspring;
Love in a bodily shape; and Christian works are no more than
Animate Love and faith; as flowers are the animate Springtide。
Works do follow us all unto God; there stand and bear witness
Not what they seemed;but what they were only。 Blessed is he
who
Hears their confession secure; they are mute upon earth until
death's hand
Opens the mouth of the silent。 Ye children; does Death e'er
alarm you?
Death is the brother of Love; twin…brother is he; and is only
More austere to behold。 With a kiss upon lips that are fading
Takes he the soul and departs; and; rocked in the arms of
affection;
Places the ransomed child; new born; 'fore the face of its
father。
Sounds of his coming already I hear;see dimly his pinions;
Swart as the night; but with stars strewn upon them! I fear not
before him。
Death is only release; and in mercy is mute。 On his bosom
Freer breathes; in its coolness; my breast; and face to face
standing
Look I on God as he is; a sun unpolluted by vapors;
Look on the light of the ages I loved; the spirits majestic;
Nobler; better than I; they stand by the throne all
transfigured;
Vested in white; and with harps of gold; and are singing an
anthem;
Writ in the climate of heaven; in the language spoken by
angels。
You; in like manner; ye children beloved; he one day shall
gather;
Never forgets he the weary;then welcome; ye loved ones;
hereafter!
Meanwhile forget not the keeping of vows; forget not the
promise;
Wander from holiness onward to holiness; earth shall ye heed
not
Earth is but dust and heaven is light; I have pledged you to
heaven。
God of the universe; hear me! thou fountain of Love
everlasting;
Hark to the voice of thy servant! I send up my prayer to thy
heaven!
Let me hereafter not miss at thy throne one spirit of all
these;
Whom thou hast given me here! I have loved them all like a
father。
May they bear witness for me; that I taught them the way of
salvation;
Faithful; so far as I knew; of thy word; again may they know
me;
Fall on their Teacher's breast; and before thy face may I place
them;
Pure as they now are; but only more tried; and exclaiming with
gladness;
Father; lo! I am here; and the children; whom thou hast given
me!〃
Weeping he spake in these words; and now at the beck of the
old man
Knee against knee they knitted a wreath round the altar's
enclosure。
Kneeling he read then the prayers of the consecration; and
softly
With him the children read; at the close; with tremulous
accents;
Asked he the peace of Heaven; a benediction upon them。
Now should have ended his task for the day; the following
Sunday
Was for the young appointed to eat of the Lord's holy Supper。
Sudden; as struck from the clouds; stood the Teacher silent and
laid his
Hand on his forehead; and cast his looks upward; while thoughts
high and holy;
Flew through the midst of his soul; and his eyes glanced with
wonderful brightness。
〃On the next Sunday; who knows! perhaps I shall rest in the
graveyard!
Some one perhaps of yourselves; a lily broken untimely;
Bow down his head to the earth; why delay I? the hour is
accomplished;
Warm is the heart;I will! for to…day grows the harvest of
heaven。
What I began accomplish I now; what failing therein is
I; the old man; will answer to God and the reverend father。
Say to me only; ye children; ye denizens new…come in heaven;
Are ye ready this day to eat of the bread of Atonement?
What it denoteth; that know ye full well; I have told it you
often。
Of the new covenant symbol it is; of Atonement a token;
Stablished between earth and heaven。 Man by his sins and
transgressions
Far has wandered from God; from his essence。 'T was in the
beginning
Fast by the Tree of Knowledge he fell; and it hangs its crown
o'er the
Fall to this day; in the Thought is the Fall; in the Heart the
Atonement。
Infinite is the fall;the Atonement infinite likewise。
See! behind me; as far as the old man remembers; and forward;
Far as Hope in her flight can reach with her wearied pinions;
Sin and Atonement incessant go through the lifetime of mortals。
Sin is brought forth full…grown; but Atonement sleeps in our
bosoms
Still as the cradled babe; and dreams of heaven and of angels;
Cannot awake to sensation; is like the tones in the harp's
strings;
Spirits imprisoned; that wait evermore the deliverer's finger。
Therefore; ye children beloved; descended the Prince of
Atonement;
Woke the slumberer from sleep; and she stands now with eyes all
resplendent。
Bright as the vault of the sky; and battles with Sin and
o'ercomes her。
Downward to earth he came and; transfigured; thence reascended;
Not from the heart in like wise; for there he still lives in
the Spirit;
Loves and atones evermore。 So long as Time is; is Atonement。
Therefore with reverence take this day her visible token。
Tokens are dead if the things live not。 The light everlasting
Unto the blind is not; but is born of the eye that has vision。
Neither in bread nor in wine; but in the heart that is hallowed
Lieth forgiveness enshrined; the intention alone of amendment
Fruits of the earth ennobles to heavenly things; and removes
all
Sin and the guerdon of sin。 Only Love with his arms wide
extended;
Penitence wee ping and praying; the Will that is tried; and
whose gold flows
Purified forth from the flames; in a word; mankind by Atonement
Breaketh Atonement's bread; and drinketh Atonement's wine…cup。
But he who cometh up hither; unworthy; with hate in his bosom;
Scoffing at men and at God; is guilty of Christ's blessed body;
And the Redeemer's blood! To himself he eateth and drinketh
Death and doom ! And from this; preserve us; thou heavenly
Father!
Are ye ready; ye children; to eat of the bread of Atonement?
Thus with emotion he asked; and together answered the children;
〃Yes!〃 with deep sobs interrupted。 Then read he the due
supplications;
Read the Form of Communion; and in chimed the organ and anthem:
〃O Holy Lamb of God; who takest away our transgressions;
Hear us! give us thy peace! have mercy; have mercy upon us!〃
Th' old man; with trembling hand; and heavenly pearls on his
eyelids;
Filled now the chalice and paten; and dealt round the mystical
symbols。
Oh; then seemed it to me as if God; with the broad eye of
midday;
Clearer looked in at the windows; and all the trees in the
church yard
Bowed down their summits of green; and the grass on the graves
'gan to shiver
But in the children (I noted it well ; I knew it) there ran a
Tremor of holy rapture along through their ice…cold members。
Decked like an altar before them; there stood the green earth;
and above it
Heaven opened itself; as of old before Stephen; they saw there
Radiant in glory the Father; and on his right hand the
Redeemer。
Under them hear they the clang of harpstrings; and angels from
gold clouds
Beckon to them like brothers; and fan with their pinions of
purple。
Closed was the Teacher's task; and with heaven in their
hearts and their faces;
Up rose the children all; and each bowed him; weeping full
sorely;
Downward to kiss that reverend hand; but all of them pressed he
Moved to his bosom; and laid; with a prayer; his hands full of
blessings;
Now on the holy breast; and now on the innocent tresses。
*******
KING CHRISTIAN
A NATIONAL SONG OF DENMARK
King Christian stood by the lofty mast
In mist and smoke;
His sword was hammering so fast;
Through Gothic helm and brain it passed;
Then sank each hostile hulk and mast;
In mist and smoke。
〃Fly!〃 shouted they; 〃fly; he who can!
Who braves of Denmark's Christian
The stroke?〃
Nils Juel gave heed to the tempest's roar;
Now is the hour!
He hoisted his blood…red flag once more;
And smote upon the foe full sore;
And shouted Loud; through the tempest's roar;
〃Now is the hour!〃
〃Fly!〃 shouted they; 〃for shelter fly!
Of Denmark's Juel who can defy
The power?〃
North Sea! a glimpse of Wessel rent
Thy murky sky!
Then champions to thine arms were sent;
Terror and Death