Poets From Germany

"Ruris enim quaecunque datur possessio, seu sit Putris harenoso qua torpet glarea tractu, Seu pingui molita graves uligine fetus, Collibus erectis alte sita, sive iacenti Planitie facilis, clivo seu vallibus horrens; Non negat ingenuos holerum progignere fructus, Si modo non tua cura gravi compressa veterno Multi plices holitoris opes contemnere stultis Ausibus assuescit, callosasque aere duro Detrectat fuscare manus et stercora plenis Vitat in arenti disponere pulvere qualis. Haec non sola mihi patefecit opinio famae Vulgaris, quaesita libris nec lectio priscis; Sed labor et studium, quibus otia longa dierum Postposui, expertum rebus docuere probatis."

"Non patitur cunctas angustia carminis huius Pulei virtutes celeri comprendere versu. Hoc apud Indorum tanti constare peritos Fertur, apud Gallos quanti valet Indica nigri Congeries piperis. Quis iam dubitare sinetur Hac herba plures leniri posse labores, Quam pretiis inhianter emit ditissima tantis Gens hebenoque auroque fluens et mira volenti Quaeque ferens mundo?"

"Vel qualis manibus quondam suspensa supinis Lucet agens circum lomenti bulla salivam, Ante recens maceretur aquis quam spuma refusis, Dum lentescit adhuc digitis luctantibus et se Alternis vicibus studioque fricantibus uno, Inter utramque manum parvo fit parvus hiatu Exitus, huc stricto lenis meat ore Noti vis, Distenditque cavum vitrea sub imagine pondus Et centrum medio confingit labile fundo, Undique conveniat camuri quo inflexio tecti."

"James Mitchell, trans. On the Cultivation of Gardens (San Francisco, CA: Ithuriel's Spear, 2009)"

"Quae rara sub isto Axe videre soles, aliis in partibus horum Copia tanta iacet, quantam vilissima tecum Efficiunt; rursus quaedam quae spreta videntur Forte tibi, magno mercantur ditia regna, Altera ut alterius potiatur foenore tellus, Orbis et in toto per partes una domus sit."

"Haec quia non Tyrio Germania tingitur ostro, Lata nec ardenti se Gallia murice iactat, Lutea purpurei reparat crementa quotannis Ubertim floris, tantum qui protinus omnes Herbarum vicisse comas virtute et odore Dicitur, ut merito florum flos esse feratur. * * * Huic famosa suus opponunt lilia flores, Longius horum etiam spirans odor imbuit auras, Sed si quis nivei candentia germina fructus Triverit, aspersi mirabitur ilicet omnem Nectaris ille fidem celeri periisse meatu. Hoc quia virginitas fama subnixa beata Flore nitet, quam si null us labor exagitarit Sordis et inliciti non fregerit ardor amoris, Flagrat odore suo. Porro si gloria pessum Integritatis eat, foetor mutabit odorem."

"O mater virgo, fecundo germine mater, Virga fide intacta, sponsi de nomine sponsa, Sponsa, columba, domus, regina, fidelis amica, Bello carpe rosas, laeta arripe lilia pace. Flos Tibi sceptrigero venit generamine Iesse, Unicus antiquae reparator stirpis et auctor, Lilia qui verbis vitaque dicavit amoena, Morte rosas tinguens, pacemque et proelia membris Liquit in orbe suis, virtutem amplexus utramque, Praemiaque ambobus servans aeterna triumphis."

"Raef Payne, trans. Hortulus (Pittsburgh, PA: Hunt Botanical Library, 1966)"

"Richard S. Lambert, trans. Hortulus, or, The Little Garden (Wembley, Middx: The Stanton Press, 1924)"

"Strew the way with roses, forgetting every ill! a short span of time is measured out to us. To-day the frolicsome boy joins the dance in the spring-time of life; to-morrow the chaplet of the dead waves over his grave.To-day sees the young bride conducted with joy to the altar; before the evening’s dews are spread, she rests on her bier: give then grief and moping care to the wind that passes; beneath this beechen grove drain the jingling glasses."

"Happy the man who has escaped from the town! Every whispering of the tree, every murmuring of the stream, every sparkling pebble, preaches to him virtue and wisdom.Every shady grove is to him a holy temple, where his God waves nearer to him; every green sod an altar, where he kneels before the Lofty One."

"Practise ever truth and uprightness till the cold grave, and deviate not a finger’s breadth from God’s ways! Then wilt thou, as on a green meadow, go through thy pilgrimage of life; then canst thou without fear and dread look death in the face.Then will the sickle and the plough be light in thy hand; then canst thou sing over the water-jug, as if it were filled with wine. But to the scoundrel is everything full of trouble, do what he may: the devil drives him to and fro, leaving him no rest.The beautiful spring smiles not for him, the fields of corn wave not with joy for him; he is a lover of lies and deceit, he cares for nothing but gold; the wind in the wood, the leaf on the tree, whisper horror to his heart; he finds no rest in the grave after life is over."

"Love makes the hovel to he a golden palace, scatters dancing and play over the wilderness, uncovers to us the light traces of the Divinity, gives us a foretaste of heaven!"

"Give me love and contentment that I may proclaim thy glory, Lord of earth; give me health with competence, a pious heart, and a steadfast mind; give me children, worthy of all care; scare from my cheerful hearth the foe away; then give me wings, and one small hill of sand in my loved Fatherland, give wings to the soul so unwilling to flee, that it may easily tear itself from this beautiful world."

"Who stops the flight of the hours? They rush on like the arrows of God! Every second stroke hurries us nearer to our deathbed, nearer to the iron sleep of death!No spring blooms for thee, when thou art dead; no shadow is cast, no clanging of bowls, no pleasant smiles of maidens, no jests from the lips of friends!As yet the black wings of death rustle not! Therefore seize pleasures, ere the storm carries them off, which God scatters like sunshine and rain from his urn!"

"Was ist dieses Rund der Erden, Als ein Tummelplatz voll Schein? Helden, heute siegreich, werden Morgen kaum noch Schatten seyn; Seht, bey Kränzen, Thron und Siegen, Fesseln, Band' und Ketten liegen!"

"The God, who made earth's iron, would create no slave; therefore he gave the sabre, the sword, and the spear, for man's right hand. Hence he imbued him with courage, lent accents of wrath to freedom's voice, that he might maintain the feud till death."

"Oh, wonderfully beautiful is God’s earth, and worthy of being delighted in! therefore shall I, till I am changed into ashes, rejoice in this beautiful earth!"

"German orientalists, A.W. Schlegel claimed in 1819, were not suited to be missionaries or colonizers: “... on the other hand, they are all the more ideally suited to appreciate the world-historical, philological and philosophical insights the study of Indian monuments can offer. For the kinds of research that sharpen the eye for these sorts of perspectives on the unknown, prehistorical world are already deeply rooted in Germany, and foreign scholars cannot even imagine many of the concepts which the Germans already thoroughly comprehend.’"

"What separates art from science? The gift; To it, proud knowledge must concede the crown. Scholarship certainly knows how something ought to be But it cannot create it — that you alone, art, can do."

"What I offer here is not a translation; that would be superfluous. Rather, [I offer] an attempt to bring closer to us a beautiful foreign tale, through reworking it as German poetry ... I have attempted to reach this goal of nationalizing [the poem] by making the episodes stand alone, but also by dressing [them] in class-appropriate German costume, excluding everything foreign which is only understandable to us by learned means and is not immediately [understandable] through the feelings, while still retaining the local color, insofar as it does not destroy the poetic impression, but seems to strengthen it."

"Rückert today is largely forgotten and was, even in his day, an almost uncategorizable individual. Was he a poet or a scholar, a writer or a translator, a German nationalist or a universalist, a Christian or a pagan? He did, in fact, inhabit all of these identities, often simultaneously, and it would take at least one very fat book to do his intellectual career justice."

"Auf hoher Alp Wohnt auch der liebe Gott, Er färbt den Morgen rot, Die Blümlein weiß und blau, Und labet sie mit Tau. Auf hoher Alp ein lieber Vater wohnt.Auf hoher Alp Der Hirt sein Heerdlein schaut; Sein Herz Gott vertraut; Der Geiß und Lamm ernährt, Ihm auch wohl gern beschert. Auf hoher Alp ein lieber Vater wohnt!"

"Wie aus Duft und Glanz gemischt Du mich schufst, dir dank ich's heut."

"Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt, Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze Brüderlich zusammenhält. Von der Maas bis an die Memel, Von der Etsch bis an den Belt, Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt!"

"Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang."

"Nur stets zu sprechen, ohne was zu sagen, Das war von je der Redner größte Gabe."

"Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Für das deutsche Vaterland! Danach laßt uns alle streben Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand! Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Sind des Glückes Unterpfand – Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes, Blühe, deutsches Vaterland!"

"Nun will euch Hülfe bringen Der gnadenreiche Tod. Den müßt ihr freundlich grüßen. Dann wird er freundlich auch Und kehrt in Lust das Büssen."

"Geduld! Geduld! Wenn’s Herz auch bricht! Mit Gott im Himmel hadre nicht!"

"Sieh hin, sieh her! der Mond scheint hell. Wir und die Todten reiten schnell."

"Ich weiʒ wol daʒ er selbe giht, swer grôʒen dienst leiste, des lôn sî ouch der meiste."

"Nû sehent wie unser lachen mit weinen erlischet. unser süeʒe ist vermischet mit bitterre gallen. unser bluome der muoʒ vallen so er allergrüenest wænet sîn."

"Tu septiformis munere, Dexterae Dei tu digitus, Tu rite promissum Patris, Sermone ditans guttura."

"Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentes tuorum visita, Imple superna gratia, Quae tu creasti pectora. Qui Paraclitus diceris, Donum Dei altissimi Fons vivus, ignis, caritas, Et spiritalis unctio."

"Accende lumen sensibus: Infunde amorem cordibus: Infirma nostri corporis Virtute firmans perpeti."

"Gloria Patri Domino, Natoque qui a mortuis Surrexit, ac Paraclito, In saeculorum saecula. Amen."

"I only embrace Christianity in general and renew the covenant of my baptism, but that I in no way agree to bind myself to any creed concerning which I am not convinced as to whether or not it is the Church established by Christ."

"Der Winter ist ein rechter Mann, Kernfest und auf die Dauer."

"Am Rhein, am Rhein, da wachsen unsre Reben; Gesegnet sey der Rhein! Da wachsen sie am Ufer hin, und geben Uns diesen Labewein."

"Aus nichts wird nichts, das merke wohl, Wenn aus dir etwas werden soll."

"Greif' nicht leicht in ein Wespennest, Doch wenn du greifst, so stehe fest."

"Wenn jemand eine Reise thut, So kann er was verzählen."

"Ach die Natur schuf mich im Grimme, Sie gab mir nichts — als eine schöne Stimme!"

"Sich," sprach der Greis, "hast du denn nicht gelesen: Wenn Menschen schweigen, werden Steine schreien? Nicht spotte ferner, Sohn, mit Gottes Wort! Lebendig ist es, kräftig, schneidet scharf, Wie ein zweischneidig Schwert, und sollte gleich Das Menschenherz sich ihm zum Trotz versteinen. So wird im Stein ein Menschenherz sich regen."

"Ê ich mích ir verzige, ich verzige mich ê der krône."

"A thousand soldiers knelt in Warsaw’s square, The solemn oath of battle sternly taking; They swore, without a shot, the foe to dare, With bayonets’ point their deadly pathway making. Beat drums! march on, and let our country tell That “Poland’s Fourth” will keep its promise well.So said, and bloody Praga saw it done. Right where the foe in thickest mass was rushing, We charged, and not a comrade fired his gun, But each with deadly bayonet on was pushing. Praga shall tell how, mid the blackened air, Poland’s “Fourth Regiment” was bleeding there.When, from a thousand throats of fire, the flame At Ostrolenka on our columns falling Mowed down our ranks, we broke our way, and came With the sharp bayonets’ point their heart appalling. Let Ostrolenka, joined with Praga, say That “Poland’s Fourth” has kept its vow to-day.Yes, many manly hearts then sank to rest, To the war-fiend a noble offering bringing; Yet to his oath each man was true, and prest On to the end, still to his weapon clinging; Yes, with unloaded gun and steady eye, Poland’s “Fourth Regiment” marched on to die.O, woe to us! woe to our land forlorn! O, ask not whence or how this misery came! Woe, woe to every child in Poland born! Our wounds break open when we hear her name. They bleed afresh, but most our hearts are wrung When “Poland’s Fourth” is named by any tongue.And ah! dear brothers, who to death have gone, But, dying, from our souls shall perish never; We, who still live, with broken hearts move on, Far from our homes, the homes now lost forever; And pray that God in heaven may quickly send The last of “Poland’s Fourth” a blessed end.From Poland’s confines, through the misty air, Ten soldiers come, and, crossing Prussia’s border, The sentry challenges with, “Who comes there?” They stand in silence. He repeats the order. At last one says, “Out of a thousand men In ‘Poland’s Fourth’ we are the only ten.”"

"Was von mir, ein Esel spricht, Das acht’ ich nicht."

"Universities decline in the degree that technical progress spreads into them from the secondary schools. The university becomes a technical training center and servant of technical progress."

"It is not difficult to understand the shortcomings of such methods—but it is exceedingly difficult to evade them. We can reasonably assume, for example, that an apple contains a number of substances tha so far have eluded the chemist and the biologist. It is likewise quite certain that even if all these substances could be synthetically reproduced in a pill they could not replace the apple. For the apple embodies a principle that is higher than the sum of its parts. It is not a lifeless preparation, like substances that have been, or could be, extracted from it, but an expression of life that grows and smells and ripens and has fragrance. No doubt the wise thing to do is to eat the apple itself rather than swallow the vitamins which may be extracted from it. And I shall also show wisdom by eating the apple not for the sake of all the vitamins it contains, but because it is an apple. The difference is fundamental, for in the first instance I am acting like a sick person, in the second like a healthy one. In matters of food we act wisely if we avoid the technician wherever we can."