Scenes and Passages from the Tasso of Goethe. 283

Naples a Song of the Syren

The Fall of D'Assas

The Burial of William the Conqueror

335

336

....

338

SONGS

OF

THE AFFECTIONS.

They tell but dreams-a lonely spirit's dreams-
Yet ever through their fleeting imagery
Wanders a vein of melancholy love,

An aimless thought of home:-
:-as in the song
Of the caged skylark ye may deem there dwells
A passionate memory of blue skies and flowers,
And living streams-far off!

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SONGS OF THE AFFECTIONS.

A SPIRIT'S RETURN.

This is to be a mortal,

And seek the things beyond mortality!

Manfred.

THY Voice prevails; dear Friend, my gentle Friend!
This long-shut heart for thee shall be unseal'd,
And though thy soft eye mournfully will bend
Over the troubled stream, yet once reveal'd
Shall its freed waters flow; then rocks must close
For evermore, above their dark repose.

Come while the gorgeous mysteries of the sky
Fused in the crimson sea of sunset lie;

Come to the woods, where all strange wandering sound
Is mingled into harmony profound;

Where the leaves thrill with spirit, while the wind
Fills with a viewless being, unconfined,

The trembling reeds and fountains;-Our own dell,
With its green dimness and Æolian breath,
Shall suit th' unveiling of dark records well-
Hear me in tenderness and silent faith!

Thou knew'st me not in life's fresh vernal noon

I would thou hadst !-for then my heart on thine

VOL. VI.

2

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