The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iii Part 137

GENIUS

In a heart of princely kind Much is hidden from your sense.

Know, then, that a n.o.ble mind Puts the greatness into living, Never needs to draw it thence.

THE YOUTH

Oh, lovely strangers, teach us to retain her!

Oh, teach us to find favor in her sight!

We long with perfumed garlands to enchain her Within our homeland, never to take flight.

GENIUS

A n.o.ble heart soon finds itself at home-- Creates, in stillness working, its own world: And as the tree takes hold upon the earth With eager grasping roots, and soon is fast, So will a great and doubly royal nature By its own n.o.ble deeds take hold on life.

Love's tender ties soon knit themselves anew-- For where is happiness, there too is home!

ALL THE COUNTRY PEOPLE

Oh, handsome stranger, say how we may chain her, The fairest, in our quiet vale retain her!

GENIUS

Courage! The help you seek is nigh at hand.

All is not strange to her in this new land.

Me she will know, and my attendant train, When we have made our names and office plain.

[GENIUS _comes forward. The Seven Arts follow him and form a semi-circle about him. As they do so, they display their attributes, which until this moment have been concealed beneath their robes_.]

GENIUS (_addressing the Crown Princess_)

Lo, I am Genius--beauty's lord alone-- And these that follow me the sister Arts.

'Tis we that deck the altar and the throne; We crown the work that springs from human hearts.

Long have we dealt with thine imperial line; And she, the n.o.ble dame that gave thee birth, With spotless hand a dedicated shrine Still keeps for us, a sacred spot of earth.

We follow thee obedient to her sending; For happiness through us finds perfect ending.

ARCHITECTURE (_a mural crown on her head, a golden ship in her right hand_)

By Neva's flood thou saw'st me sit at home: Thy great forefather called me to his side-- And there I built for him a second Rome; Through me it grew to be an empire's pride.

A paradise of stately pleasure-grounds Arose beneath the magic of my wand; And now the busy hum of life resounds Where once a desert stretched on every hand.

The thunder of the cannon of thy fleet Alarms the h.o.a.ry Neptune in his ancient seat.

SCULPTURE (_a small image of victory in her hand_)

Me too hast thou beheld with wondering eyes, That did the old Olympian world restore.

Upon a cliff that age and storm defies Its mighty image stands for evermore.

(_Shows the Victory_)

Lo, Victory's image, by my fingers shaped!

Thy lordly brother grasps it in his hand: And round her form his conquering banners draped, See Alexander bear her through the land!

I strive, but end with lifeless imitation-- He builds of savage hordes a mighty nation.

PAINTING

And me, most n.o.ble, thou wilt know again-- The fond creator of depicted form; Know very life in all its colors plain Upon my canvas glowing fresh and warm.

Yea, through the eyes I can deceive the heart, My skill can cheat the senses without wronging And still the beating of the lover's heart-- Present the very face for which he's longing: Wide as the poles asunder though they go, They are not quite alone, my help who know.

POETRY

Through farthest s.p.a.ce I fly on soaring pinion; I know no limits; naught disputes my rule Or bids me stay. I hold supreme dominion O'er realms of thought--the Word my winged tool.

All things that move in heaven above, on earth, Are to my penetrating eyes displayed-- Though in the secret depths they have their birth.

No bar across the poet's path is laid.

But I have found, in all my age-long quest, Naught fairer than a pure soul in a lovely breast.

MUSIC (_with the lyre_)

The might of tones that tremble on the strings, Thou know'st it well--for thou canst wield it too.

What fills the quivering heart when music sings Can find in me alone its utterance true.

A sweet enchantment plays on every sense When my harmonious flood has reached its height-- Until the enraptured soul would fain go hence And from the lips, soft sighing, take its flight.

Where I set up my ladder, built of sound, A way to scale the dizziest heights is found.

DANCING (_with the cymbals_)

In solemn stillness brooding, the Divine Is by a silent soul perceived at rest: Yet life and youth for gladsome motion pine-- They must expression find, must thus be blest.

Led by soft beauty's chain, they follow me To lose themselves within the sinuous maze.

On Zephyr's wings I raise the body free; In dancing steps I teach symmetric grace.

Grace is the gift I bear within my hand; All things that move I lead with magic wand.

DRAMA (_with the double mask_)

The mask of Ja.n.u.s have I in my keeping-- On one side sorrow, on the other joy; For man must alternate 'twixt bliss and weeping, And with the dark is mixed a light alloy.

In all its deeps profound, its dizzy heights, Life's tale before thine eyes I can unroll, And make thee turn, richer for these great sights, Into the peaceful silence of thy soul.

Who the whole world in one wide view surveys, In his own heart no civil strife dismays.

GENIUS

And all of us who here appear before you, Majestic sisterhood of n.o.ble arts, For leave to serve you, Princess, would implore you: Do but command, and we will play our parts.

As Theban walls obeyed the lyre's sweet sounding, So here the senseless stone shall live at thine-- A world of beauty rise, thine eyes astounding.

ARCHITECTURE

Tall columns stand in well-proportioned line.

SCULPTURE

The marble shape beneath the mallet's blow.

PAINTING