Scarce sprouted from the waters, O earth, your
Young mountain pinnacle
smelled of desire
Breathing, as through the gray ocean
Breathing, as through the gray ocean
Wildness came, full of evergreen trees,
The first precious islands; and watching with joy
The sun god cast his eye on the new ones,
The plants, in the eternal youth of
Smiling children, borne out of you.
But the most beautiful on the island, where
The grove in loving peace flowed 'round the air,
Lay under grapes, lying in wait through the
Night, in the twilight morning hour
The sun god cast his eye on the new ones,
The plants, in the eternal youth of
Smiling children, borne out of you.
But the most beautiful on the island, where
The grove in loving peace flowed 'round the air,
Lay under grapes, lying in wait through the
Night, in the twilight morning hour
Born, Mother Earth! Your most beautiful child; -
Who looks at Father Helios knowingly,
This boy, and wakes and wants the sweetest
Who looks at Father Helios knowingly,
This boy, and wakes and wants the sweetest
Berry from the holy vine to
take
And nurse himself; and soon he is great; the animals
Shun him, because he is other, than them,
This man; it’s not you he resembles, and not
And nurse himself; and soon he is great; the animals
Shun him, because he is other, than them,
This man; it’s not you he resembles, and not
The father, he brazenly seized only
The sun-god’s lofty soul and your desire,
O earth! And your griefs conglomerated;
The mother of the gods, of nature,
All-embracing he wants the same!
Ah! Thus it drives him, earth, exuberant
From your
heart, and from your delicate cord
And all
your gifts that will come to naught;
He seeks what's better still, the wild!
From his green fragrant shore man must drift away
Through the flower-empty waters outside;
And though he shines like the night stars on
The golden fruit orchard, still he digs
Grottoes in the mountains and peers in the shaft,
Away from his father's clarifying light,
He disobeys the sun god as well,
He seeks what's better still, the wild!
From his green fragrant shore man must drift away
Through the flower-empty waters outside;
And though he shines like the night stars on
The golden fruit orchard, still he digs
Grottoes in the mountains and peers in the shaft,
Away from his father's clarifying light,
He disobeys the sun god as well,
This servant without
love who scorns concern.
The birds of the forest breathe free, still and all
Man's breast more gloriously heaves, and he sees
The obscure future, and sees as well
Death, and he must fear it all by himself.
And proud, forever scared, man bears arms against
The birds of the forest breathe free, still and all
Man's breast more gloriously heaves, and he sees
The obscure future, and sees as well
Death, and he must fear it all by himself.
And proud, forever scared, man bears arms against
All that
breathe; in ever-rebounding discord
He consumes himself and is consumed,
He consumes himself and is consumed,
His heavenly flower does not bloom long.
Is he not of all his fellow beings the
Is he not of all his fellow beings the
Most blessed?
But deeper and with overwhelming force
His
portion is seized, all-compensating,
And his strong and ardent heart is broken.
Der Mensch
Kaum sproßten aus den Wassern, o Erde, dir
Der jungen Berge Gipfel und dufteten
Lustatmend, immergrüner Haine
Voll, in des Ozeans grauer Wildnis
Die ersten holden Inseln; und freudig sah
Des
Sonnengottes Auge die Neulinge,
Die Pflanzen, seiner ewgen Jugend
Lächelnde Kinder, aus dir geboren.
Da auf der Inseln schönster, wo immerhin
Den Hain in
zarter Ruhe die Luft umfloß,
Lag unter Trauben einst, nach lauer
Geboren, Mutter Erde! dein schönstes Kind; -
Und auf zum
Vater Helios sieht bekannt
Der Knab', und wacht und wählt, die
süßen
Beere versuchend, die heil'ge Rebe
Zur Amme sich; und bald ist er groß; ihn scheun
Die Tiere, denn
ein anderer ist, wie sie,
Der Mensch; nicht dir und nicht dem
Vater
Gleicht er, denn kühn ist in ihm
und einzig
Des Vaters hohe Seele mit deiner Lust,
O Erd'! und deiner
Trauer von je vereint;
Der Göttermutter, der Natur, der
Allesumfassenden möcht er
gleichen!
Ach! darum treibt ihn, Erde! vom Herzen dir
Sein Übermut,
und deine Geschenke sind
Umsonst
und deine zarten Bande;
Sucht er ein Besseres doch, der
Wilde!
Von seines Ufers duftender Wiese muß
Ins blütenlose
Wasser hinaus der Mensch;
Und glänzt auch, wie die Sternenacht,
von
Goldenen Früchten sein Hain, doch
gräbt er
Sich Höhlen in den Bergen und späht im Schacht,
Von seines
Vaters heiterem Lichte fern,
Dem Sonnengott auch ungetreu, der
Knechte nicht liebt und der Sorge
spottet.
Denn freier atmen Vögel des Walds, wenn schon
Des Menschen
Brust sich herrlicher hebt, und der
Die dunkle Zukunft sieht, er muß auch
Sehen den Tod und allein ihn
fürchten.
Und Waffen wider alle, die atmen, trägt
In ewigbangem
Stolze der Mensch; im Zwist
Verzehrt er sich und seines Friedens
Blume, die zärtliche, blüht nicht
lange.
Ist er von allen Lebensgenossen nicht
Der seligste?
Doch tiefer und reißender
Ergreift das Schicksal,
allausgleichend,
Auch die entzündbare Brust dem
Starken.
