As if the old waters, in another rage,
Returned in an even more terrible transformation,
To clean, since it was necessary,
So it gaped and grew and surged from year to year
To restlessly inundate the distressed land
In egregious battle, so well veiled
And so dark and pale was the head of man.
The heroic forces flew, like waves, onward
And dwindling away, reduced you, avenger!
It was often the servant's quick work
Returned in an even more terrible transformation,
To clean, since it was necessary,
So it gaped and grew and surged from year to year
To restlessly inundate the distressed land
In egregious battle, so well veiled
And so dark and pale was the head of man.
The heroic forces flew, like waves, onward
And dwindling away, reduced you, avenger!
It was often the servant's quick work
To bring
them, the warriors, home to rest.
O you, the relentless and undefeated
Before the cowardly and too powerful,
Strike until the last rank is down and
His impoverished clan trembles from the blow,
The secret that you in spike and bridle hold
To suppress and to further, O Nemesis,
You still punish the dead, that now sleep
Under laurel in Italy’s gardens,
The old conquerors otherwise undisturbed.
And if you don't spare the idle shepherd too,
Finally having taken well enough
O you, the relentless and undefeated
Before the cowardly and too powerful,
Strike until the last rank is down and
His impoverished clan trembles from the blow,
The secret that you in spike and bridle hold
To suppress and to further, O Nemesis,
You still punish the dead, that now sleep
Under laurel in Italy’s gardens,
The old conquerors otherwise undisturbed.
And if you don't spare the idle shepherd too,
Finally having taken well enough
Will
lavish slumber redeem the people?
Who started it? Who brought the curse? It is not
Who started it? Who brought the curse? It is not
From today nor of
yesterday, and the first
Measure’s lost, our fathers did not know,
Measure’s lost, our fathers did not know,
Driven by their spirits, and by their
minds.
Too long, too long already have mortals stepped
With pleasure on each other’s heads, man battled
Over who would rule, feared his neighbor,
And found no mercy upon his own ground.
Too long, too long already have mortals stepped
With pleasure on each other’s heads, man battled
Over who would rule, feared his neighbor,
And found no mercy upon his own ground.
Desire wanders wretched and wrong, like chaos,
In ferment and froth across generations
In ferment and froth across generations
Still, wild
and despondent and cold are
The sorrowful lives of the ever poor.
But you wander quietly on your sure path,
O Mother Earth, in the light. Your springtime blooms
Vary the melodies as ages
Accumulate, that’s your journey through life!
Come now, thou holiest of all the Muses,
Beloved of the stars, revive and renew
This peace we have longed for, give us one
Remain of life, one heart for us again.
The sorrowful lives of the ever poor.
But you wander quietly on your sure path,
O Mother Earth, in the light. Your springtime blooms
Vary the melodies as ages
Accumulate, that’s your journey through life!
Come now, thou holiest of all the Muses,
Beloved of the stars, revive and renew
This peace we have longed for, give us one
Remain of life, one heart for us again.
Innocent! The children though are almost more
Clever
than we are, although we’re old; discord
Will not err
the sense of the good, and
Their eyes stay clear and full of happiness.
And like the other spectators, the judge looks
With an earnest smile upon the race-tracked young,
And like the other spectators, the judge looks
With an earnest smile upon the race-tracked young,
The fiercely aglow
competitors
Drifting their chariots through dusty clouds,
Thus Helios stands, and smiles all around us,
And lonely are the divine, never happy,
Because they live forever, aethers
Drifting their chariots through dusty clouds,
Thus Helios stands, and smiles all around us,
And lonely are the divine, never happy,
Because they live forever, aethers
Flowering
stars, the unbounded holy.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Der Frieden
Der Frieden
Wie wenn die alten Wasser, die in andern Zorn,
In schröcklichern verwandelt wieder
Kämen, zu reinigen, da es not
war,
So gählt' und wuchs und wogte von Jahr zu Jahr
Rastlos und überschwemmte das bange Land
Die unerhörte Schlacht, daß
weit hüllt
Dunkel und
Blässe das Haupt der Menschen.
Die Heldenkräfte flogen, wie Wellen, auf
Und schwanden weg, du kürztest, o Rächerin!
Den Dienern oft die Arbeit
schnell und
Brachtest
in Ruhe sie heim, die Streiter.
O du, die unerbittlich und unbesiegt
Den Feigern und den Übergewaltgen trifft,
Daß bis ins letzte Glied
hinab vom
Schlage
sein armes Geschlecht erzittert,
Die du geheim den Stachel und Zügel hältst,
Zu hemmen und zu fördern, o Nemesis,
Strafst du die Toten noch, es
schliefen
Unter
Italiens Lorbeergärten
Sonst ungestört die alten Eroberer.
Und schonst du auch des müßigen Hirten nicht,
Und haben endlich wohl genug
den
Üppigen
Schlummer gebüßt die Völker?
Wer hub es an? wer brachte den Fluch? von heut
Ists nicht und nicht von gestern, und die
zuerst
Das Maß verloren, unsre Väter
Wußten es
nicht, und es trieb ihr Geist sie.
Zu lang, zu lang schon treten die Sterblichen
Sich gern aufs Haupt, und zanken um Herrschaft
sich,
Den Nachbar fürchtend, und es
hat auf
Eigenem
Boden der Mann nicht Segen.
Und unstät wehn und irren, dem Chaos gleich,
Dem gärenden Geschlechte die Wünsche noch
Umher und wild ist und
verzagt und kalt von
Sorgen das
Leben der Armen immer.
Du aber wandelst ruhig die sichre Bahn,
O Mutter Erd, im Lichte. Dein Frühling blüht,
Melodischwechselnd gehn dir
hin die
Wachsenden
Zeiten, du Lebensreiche!
Komm du nun, du der heiligen Musen all,
Und der Gestirne Liebling, verjüngender
Ersehnter Friede, komm und
gib ein
Bleiben im
Leben, ein Herz uns wieder.
Unschuldiger! sind klüger die Kinder doch
Beinahe, denn wir Alten; es irrt der Zwist
Den Guten nicht den Sinn, und
klar und
Freudig ist
ihnen ihr Auge blieben.
Und wie mit andern Schauenden lächelnd ernst
Der Richter auf der Jünglinge Rennbahn sieht,
Wo glühender die Kämpfenden
die
Wagen in
stäubende Wolken treiben,
So steht und lächelt Helios über uns
Und einsam ist der Göttliche, Frohe nie,
Denn ewig wohnen sie, des
Aethers
Blühende
Sterne, die Heiligfreien.