Translations. - Hymns To The Night. (from Novalis.) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A B C D E A F A G H I J KLELMANAOPFPQRPRHSAT HNUNVWEW P B X YZYZYZA2B2 YC2YC2YC2PP D2PD2PD2PYY Y YOYOYOE2E2 P Z ZZZZF2G2F2G2 H2OH2OOYOY ZPZPOYOY OYOYYZYZ OF2OF2OYOY OOOOOZOZ I2PJ2PPYPY P K2 L2J2M2J2YY YPYPYY YQPQYY YJ2YJ2N2N2 O2J2KJ2OO P2YP2YPP J2YJ2YOO ZJ2ZJ2YY J2OJ2OPP F2J2F2J2YY

I	A
	-
Before all the wondrous shows of the widespread space around him what living sentient thing loves not the all joyous light with its colours its rays and undulations its gentle omnipresence in the form of the wakening Day The giant world of the unresting constellations inhales it as the innermost soul of life and floats dancing in its azure flood the sparkling ever tranquil stone the thoughtful imbibing plant and the wild burning multiform beast world inhales it but more than all the lordly stranger with the meaning eyes the swaying walk and the sweetly closed melodious lips Like a king over earthly nature it rouses every force to countless transformations binds and unbinds innumerable alliances hangs its heavenly form around every earthly substance Its presence alone reveals the marvellous splendour of the kingdoms of the world	B
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Aside I turn to the holy unspeakable mysterious Night Afar lies the world sunk in a deep grave waste and lonely is its place In the chords of the bosom blows a deep sadness I am ready to sink away in drops of dew and mingle with the ashes The distances of memory the wishes of youth the dreams of childhood the brief joys and vain hopes of a whole long life arise in gray garments like an evening vapour after the sunset In other regions the light has pitched its joyous tents what if it should never return to its children who wait for it with the faith of innocence	C
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What springs up all at once so sweetly boding in my heart and stills the soft air of sadness Dost thou also take a pleasure in us dusky Night What holdest thou under thy mantle that with hidden power affects my soul Precious balm drips from thy hand out of its bundle of poppies Thou upliftest the heavy laden pinions of the soul Darkly and inexpressibly are we moved joy startled I see a grave countenance that tender and worshipful inclines toward me and amid manifold entangled locks reveals the youthful loveliness of the Mother How poor and childish a thing seems to me now the light how joyous and welcome the departure of the day Didst thou not only therefore because the Night turns away from thee thy servants strew in the gulfs of space those flashing globes to proclaim in seasons of thy absence thy omnipotence and thy return	D
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More heavenly than those glittering stars we hold the eternal eyes which the Night hath opened within us Farther they see than the palest of those countless hosts Needing no aid from the light they penetrate the depths of a loving soul that fills a loftier region with bliss ineffable Glory to the queen of the world to the great prophetess of holier worlds to the foster mother of blissful love she sends thee to me thou tenderly beloved the gracious sun of the Night Now am I awake for now am I thine and mine Thou hast made me know the Night and brought her to me to be my life thou hast made of me a man Consume my body with the ardour of my soul that I turned to finer air may mingle more closely with thee and then our bridal night endure for ever	E
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II	A
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Must the morning always return Will the despotism of the earthly never cease Unholy activity consumes the angel visit of the Night Will the time never come when Love's hidden sacrifice shall burn eternally To the Light a season was set but everlasting and boundless is the dominion of the Night Endless is the duration of sleep Holy Sleep gladden not too seldom in this earthly day labour the devoted servant of the Night Fools alone mistake thee knowing nought of sleep but the shadow which in the gloaming of the real night thou pitifully castest over us They feel thee not in the golden flood of the grapes in the magic oil of the almond tree and the brown juice of the poppy They know not that it is thou who hauntest the bosom of the tender maiden and makest a heaven of her lap never suspect it is thou the portress of heaven that steppest to meet them out of ancient stories bearing the key to the dwellings of the blessed silent messenger of secrets infinite	F
	-
	-
III	A
	-
Once when I was shedding bitter tears when dissolved in pain my hope was melting away and I stood alone by the barren hillock which in its narrow dark bosom hid the vanished form of my Life lonely as never yet was lonely man driven by anguish unspeakable powerless and no longer aught but a conscious misery as there I looked about me for help unable to go on or to turn back and clung to the fleeting extinguished life with an endless longing then out of the blue distances from the hills of my ancient bliss came a shiver of twilight and at once snapped the bond of birth the fetter of the Light Away fled the glory of the world and with it my mourning the sadness flowed together into a new unfathomable world Thou soul of the Night heavenly Slumber didst come upon me the region gently upheaved itself and over it hovered my unbound new born spirit The hillock became a cloud of dust and through the cloud I saw the glorified face of my beloved In her eyes eternity reposed I laid hold of her hands and the tears became a sparkling chain that could not be broken Into the distance swept by like a tempest thousands of years On her neck I welcomed the new life with ecstatic tears Never was such another dream then first and ever since I hold fast an eternal unchangeable faith in the heaven of the Night and its sun the Beloved	G
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IV	H
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Now I know when will come the last morning when the light no more scares away the Night and Love when sleep shall be without waking and but one continuous dream I feel in me a celestial exhaustion Long and weariful was my pilgrimage to the holy grave and crushing was the cross The crystal wave which imperceptible to the ordinary sense springs in the dark bosom of the hillock against whoose foot breaks the flood of the world he who has tasted it he who has stood on the mountain frontier of the world and looked across into the new land into the abode of the Night verily he turns not again into the tumult of the world into the land where dwells the Light in ceaseless unrest	I
	-
On those heights he builds for himself tabernacles tabernacles of peace there longs and loves and gazes across until the welcomest of all hours draws him down into the waters of the spring Afloat above remains what is earthly and is swept back in storms but what became holy by the touch of Love runs free through hidden ways to the region beyond where like odours it mingles with love asleep Still wakest thou cheerful Light the weary man to his labour and into me pourest gladsome life but thou wilest me not away from Memory's mossgrown monument Gladly will I bestir the deedy hands everywhere behold where thou hast need of me bepraise the rich pomp of thy splendour pursue unwearied the lovely harmonies of thy skilled handicraft gladly contemplate the thoughtful pace of thy mighty radiant clock explore the balance of the forces and the laws of the wondrous play of countless worlds and their seasons but true to the Night remains my secret heart and to creative Love her daughter Canst thou show me a heart eternally true Has thy sun friendly eyes that know me Do thy stars lay hold of my longing hand Do they return me the tender pressure and the caressing word Was it thou didst bedeck them with colours and a flickering outline Or was it she who gave to thy jewels a higher a dearer significance What delight what pleasure offers thy life to outweigh the transports of Death Wears not everything that inspirits us the livery of the Night Thy mother it is she who brings thee forth and to her thou owest all thy glory Thou wouldst vanish into thyself thou wouldst dissipate in boundless space if she did not hold thee fast if she swaddled thee not so that thou grewest warm and flaming gavest birth to the universe Verily I was before thou wast the mother sent me with my sisters to inhabit thy world to sanctify it with love that it might be an ever present memorial to plant it with flowers unfading As yet they have not ripened these thoughts divine as yet is there small trace of our coming apocalypse One day thy clock will point to the end of Time and then thou shalt be as one of us and shalt full of ardent longing be extinguished and die I feel in me the close of thy activity I taste heavenly freedom and happy restoration With wild pangs I recognize thy distance from our home thy feud with the ancient lordly Heaven Thy rage and thy raving are in vain Inconsumable stands the cross victory flag of our race	J
	-
Over I pilgrim	K
Where every pain	L
Zest only of pleasure	E
Shall one day remain	L
Yet a few moments	M
Then free am I	A
And intoxicated	N
In Love's lap lie	A
Life everlasting	O
Lifts wave like at me	P
I gaze from its summit	F
Down after thee	P
Oh Sun thou must vanish	Q
Yon hillock beneath	R
A shadow will bring thee	P
Thy cooling wreath	R
Oh draw at my heart love	H
Draw till I'm gone	S
That fallen asleep I	A
Still may love on	T
I feel the flow of	H
Death's youth giving flood	N
To balsam and aether it	U
Changes my blood	N
I live all the daytime	V
In faith and in might	W
In holy rapture	E
I die every night	W
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V	P
	-
In ancient times an iron Fate lorded it with dumb force over the widespread families of men A gloomy oppression swathed their anxious souls the Earth was boundless the abode of the gods and their home From eternal ages stood its mysterious structure Beyond the red hills of the morning in the sacred bosom of the sea dwelt the sun the all enkindling live luminary An aged giant upbore the happy world Prisoned beneath mountains lay the first born sons of mother Earth helpless in their destroying fury against the new glorious race of gods and their kindred glad hearted men Ocean's dusky green abyss was the lap of a goddess In the crystal grottoes revelled a wanton folk Rivers trees flowers and beasts had human wits Sweeter tasted the wine poured out by youth impersonated a god was in the grape clusters a loving motherly goddess upgrew in the full golden sheaves love's sacred carousal was a sweet worship of the fairest of the goddesses Life revelled through the centuries like one spring time an ever variegated festival of the children of heaven and the dwellers on the earth All races childlike adored the ethereal thousandfold flame as the one sublimest thing in the world	B
	-
It was but a fancy a horrible dream shape	X
	-
That fearsome to the merry tables strode	Y
And wrapt the spirit in wild consternation	Z
The gods themselves here counsel knew nor showed	Y
To fill the stifling heart with consolation	Z
Mysterious was the monster's pathless road	Y
Whoose rage would heed no prayer and no oblation	Z
Twas Death who broke the banquet up with fears	A2
With anguish with dire pain and bitter tears	B2
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Eternally from all things here disparted	Y
That sway the heart with pleasure's joyous flow	C2
Divided from the loved whom broken hearted	Y
Vain longing tosses and unceasing woe	C2
In a dull dream to struggle faint and thwarted	Y
Smeemed all was granted to the dead below	C2
Broke lay the merry wave of human glory	P
On Death's inevitable promontory	P
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With daring flight aloft Thought's pinions sweep	D2
The horrid thing with beauty's robe men cover	P
A gentle youth puts out his torch to sleep	D2
Sweet comes the end like moaning lute of lover	P
Cool shadow floods o'er melting memory creep	D2
So sang the song for Misery was the mover	P
Still undeciphered lay the endless Night	Y
The solemn symbol of a far off Might	Y
	-
The old world began to decline The pleasure garden of the young race withered away up into opener regions and desolate forsaking his childhood struggled the growing man The gods vanished with their retinue Nature stood alone and lifeless Dry Number and rigid Measure bound her with iron chains As into dust and air the priceless blossoms of life fell away in words obscure Gone was wonder working Faith and the all transforming all uniting angel comrade the Imagination A cold north wind blew unkindly over the torpid plain and the wonderland first froze then evaporated into aether The far depths of heaven filled with flashing worlds Into the deeper sanctuary into the more exalted region of the mind the soul of the world retired with all her powers there to rule until the dawn should break of the glory universal No longer was the Light the abode of the gods and the heavenly token of their presence they cast over them the veil of the Night The Night became the mighty womb of revelations into it the gods went back and fell asleep to go abroad in new and more glorious shapes over the transfigured world Among the people which untimely ripe was become of all the most scornful and insolently hostile to the blessed innocence of youth appeared the New World in guise never seen before in the song favouring hut of poverty a son of the first maid and mother the eternal fruit of mysterious embrace The forseeing rich blossoming wisdom of the East at once recognized the beginning of the new age a star showed it the way to the lowly cradle of the king In the name of the far reaching future they did him homage with lustre ond odour the highest wonders of Nature In solitude the heavenly heart unfolded itself to a flower chalice of almighty love upturned to the supreme face of the father and resting on the bliss boding bosom of the sweetly solemn mother With deifying fervour the prophetic eye of the blooming child beheld the years to come foresaw untroubled over the earthly lot of his own days the beloved offspring of his divine stem Ere long the most childlike souls by true love marvellously possessed gathered about him Like flowers sprang up a new strange life in his presence Words inexhaustible and tidings the most joyful fell like sparks of a divine spirit from his friendly lips From a far shore came a singer born under the clear sky of Hellas to Palestine and gave up his whole heart to the marvellous child	Y
	-
The youth art thou who ages long hast stood	Y
Upon our graves lost in a maze of weening	O
Sign in the darkness of God's tidings good	Y
Whence hints of growth humanity is gleaning	O
For that we long on that we sweetly brood	Y
Which erst in woe had lost all life and meaning	O
In everlasting life death found its goal	E2
For thou art Death and thou first mak'st us whole	E2
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Filled with joy the singer went on to Indostan his heart intoxicated with sweetest love and poured it out in fiery songs under that tender sky so that a thousand hearts bowed to him and the good news sprang up with a thousand branches Soon after the singer's departure his precious life was made a sacrifice for the deep fall of man He died in his youth torn away from his loved world from his weeping mother and his trembling friends His lovely mouth emptied the dark cup of unspeakable wrongs In horrible anguish the birth of the new world drew near Hard he wrestled with the terrors of old Death heavy lay the weight of the old world upon him Yet once more he looked kindly at his mother then came the releasing hand of the Love eternal and he fell asleep Only a few days hung a deep veil over the roaring sea over the quaking land countless tears wept his loved ones the mystery was unsealed heavenely spirits heaved the ancient stone from the gloomy grave Angels sat by the sleeper sweetly outbodied from his dreams awaked in new Godlike glory he clomb the apex of the new born world buried with his own hand the old corpse in the forsaken cavity and with hand almighty laid upon it the stone which no power shall again upheave	P
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Yet weep thy loved ones over thy grave tears of joy tears of emotion tears of endless thanksgiving ever afresh with joyous start see thee rise again and themselves with thee behold thee weep with soft fervour on the blessed bosom of thy mother walk in thoughtful communion with thy friends uttering words plucked as from the tree of life see thee hasten full of longing into thy father's arms bearing with thee youthful Humanity and the inexhaustible cup of the golden Future Soon the mother hastened after thee in heavenly triumph she was the first with thee in the new home Since then long ages have flowed past and in splendour ever increasing hath bestirred itself thy new creation and thousands have out of pangs and tortures followed thee filled with faith and longing and truth and are walking about with thee and the heavenly virgin in the kingdom of Love minister in the temple of heavenly Death and are for ever thine	Z
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Uplifted is the stone	Z
And all mankind is risen	Z
We all remain thine own	Z
And vanished is our prison	Z
All troubles flee away	F2
Before thy golden cup	G2
For Earth nor Life can stay	F2
When with our Lord we sup	G2
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To the marriage Death doth call	H2
No virgin holdeth back	O
The lamps burn lustrous all	H2
Of oil there is no lack	O
Would thy far feet were waking	O
The echoes of our street	Y
And that the stars were making	O
Signal with voices sweet	Y
	-
To thee O mother maiden	Z
Ten thousand hearts aspire	P
In this life sorrow laden	Z
Thee only they desire	P
In thee they hope for healing	O
In thee expect true rest	Y
When thou their safety sealing	O
Shalt clasp them to thy breast	Y
	-
With disappointment burning	O
Who made in hell their bed	Y
At last from this world turning	O
To thee have looked and fled	Y
Helpful thou hast appeared	Y
To us in many a pain	Z
Now to thy home we're neared	Y
Not to go out again	Z
	-
Now at no grave are weeping	O
Such as do love and pray	F2
The gift that Love is keeping	O
From none is taken away	F2
To soothe and quiet our longing	O
Night comes and stills the smart	Y
Heaven's children round us thronging	O
Now watch and ward our heart	Y
	-
Courage for life is striding	O
To endless life along	O
The Sense in love abiding	O
Grows clearer and more strong	O
One day the stars down dripping	O
Shall flow in golden wine	Z
We of that nectar sipping	O
As living stars shall shine	Z
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Free from the tomb emerges	I2
Love to die never more	P
Fulfilled life heaves and surges	J2
A sea without a shore	P
All night all blissful leisure	P
One jubilating ode	Y
And the sun of all our pleasure	P
The countenance of God	Y
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VI	P
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LONGING AFTER DEATH	K2
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Into the bosom of the earth	L2
Out of the Light's dominions	J2
Death's pains are but the bursting forth	M2
Of glad Departure's pinions	J2
Swift in the narrow little boat	Y
Swift to the heavenly shore we float	Y
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Blest be the everlasting Night	Y
And blest the endless Slumber	P
We are heated with the day too bright	Y
And withered up with cumber	P
We're weary of that life abroad	Y
Come we will now go home to God	Y
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Why longer in this world abide	Y
Why love and truth here cherish	Q
That which is old is set aside For	P
us the new may perish	Q
Alone he stands and sore downcast	Y
Who loves with pious warmth the Past	Y
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The Past where yet the human spirit	Y
In lofty flames did rise	J2
Where men the Father did inherit	Y
His countenance recognize	J2
And in simplicity made ripe	N2
Many grew like their archetype	N2
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The Past wherin still rich in bloom	O2
Old stems did burgeon glorious	J2
And children for the world to come	K
Sought pain and death victorious	J2
And though both life and pleasure spake	O
Yet many a heart for love did break	O
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The Past where to the glow of youth	P2
God yet himself declared	Y
And early death in loving truth	P2
The young beheld and dared	Y
Anguish and torture patient bore	P
To prove they loved him as of yore	P
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With anxious yearning now we see	J2
That Past in darkness drenched	Y
With this world's water never we	J2
Shall find our hot thirst quenched	Y
To our old home we have to go	O
That blessed time again to know	O
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What yet doth hinder our return	Z
Long since repose our precious	J2
Their grave is of our life the bourn	Z
We shrink from times ungracious	J2
By not a hope are we decoyed	Y
The heart is full the world is void	Y
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Infinite and mysterious	J2
Thrills through me a sweet trembling	O
As if from far there echoed thus	J2
A sigh our grief resembling	O
The dear ones long as well as I	P
And send to me their waiting sigh	P
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Down to the sweet bride and away	F2
To the beloved Jesus	J2
Courage the evening shades grow gray	F2
Of all our griefs to ease us	J2
A dream will dash our chains apart	Y
And lay us on the Father's heart	Y

George Macdonald

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