Forget the anguish and the ancient bleedings,
The wounds engendered by the thorny rind,
And leaves of arid hours, and empty pleadings,
O'ertrample them and leave them all behind.
The wounds engendered by the thorny rind,
And leaves of arid hours, and empty pleadings,
O'ertrample them and leave them all behind.
Stefan George - Selections from His Works and Others
NEATH trembling tree tops to and fro we wander
Along the beech-grove, nearly to the bower,
And see within the silent meadow yonder,
The almond tree a second time in flower.
We search for seats by cooling shades deserted,
There, where never strangers' voices fluster,
Our arms entwined, our eyes in dreams averted,
We steep our souls in gentle lingering lustre.
We feel so grateful, when to soft discourses
Of tree-tops, slanting rays towards us travel,
And only look, and listen when in pauses,
The ripened fruit resounds upon the gravel.
26
? LET us surround the silent pool
Wherein the water ways commingle,
You seek my chary soul to kindle:
A breeze o'erwafts us chaste and cool.
Prom leaflets that bedeck the ground
Renewed and goodly scents arise,
The coloured volume I expound,
While you repeat the words I prize.
But can you glean the silent sorrows,
And unto deeper joys attain?
With shaded eyes your vision follows
The gentle swans' receding train.
TO-DAY we will not cross the garden railing,
For sometimes swiftly, yet in ways unclear,
This soft caressing or this sweet exhaling,
With long-forgotten joy again draws near:
And thus it brings us ghosts which goad and harass,
And anguish rendering weary and afraid.
Behold beneath the tree upon the terrace
The many corpses from the tempest's raid.
From off the gateway's rusting iron asters,
5The birds take flight to far sequestered greens,
? And others shiv'ring on the stone pilasters
* Drink raindrops from the hollow flower-steens,
27
? The Conquest of Summer
THE blue-toned campions and the blood-red poppies
Escape the murmuring and fleeting grain!
O wander without brooding through these valleys,
Through every oft-entwining path again.
Bestow no heed to signs upon the beeches,
The hand that carved them once now hangs effete,
And be not deaf to other names and speeches:
To young and fresher stems your steps entreat.
Forget the anguish and the ancient bleedings,
The wounds engendered by the thorny rind,
And leaves of arid hours, and empty pleadings,
O'ertrample them and leave them all behind.
28
? DOTH still before thee rise the beauteous image
Of him who high the cliff for roses scales,
Who nigh forgets the day amidst the scrimmage,
Who fullest honey from the bunch inhales?
Who oft towards the park for quiet wandered
When far a bird allured him o'er the lea,
Who sat beside the tranquil pool and pondered,
And listened to the silent secrecy?
And from the moss-crowned island slowly gliding
The swan forsook the fountain's mellow note,
Within his noble infant-hand confiding
The virgin frailty of its slender throat.
29
? Solemn Dances
THERE laughs in the heightening year, Sweet,
The scent from the garden benign.
Weaves in thy fluttering hair, Sweet,
Ivy and celandine.
The wavering corn is like gold, still,
Perhaps not so rich nor so hale,
Roses with greetings unfold still,
Be though their bloom something pale.
Let's hush over all that's denied us,
Let's promise at peace to remain,
Though everything else be decried us
But still a stroll-round atwain.
30
? THE blissful meadows beckoned. To the stile
She came o'er violet carpets soft, attired,
To meet the harvest bridegroom, as erewhile,
To be his truelove till the feast expired.
Only a lark that sang within the grove,
Beheld her start; beheld her secret blushes.
And as the lengthening days of summer throve,
She sighed, then withered by the waving rushes.
And left--her slender sweetness to divine,
Alone a necklace wreathed with silken tresses,
(With which a godly friend arrayed her shrine)
A marble block amid the weeds and cresses.
Along the beech-grove, nearly to the bower,
And see within the silent meadow yonder,
The almond tree a second time in flower.
We search for seats by cooling shades deserted,
There, where never strangers' voices fluster,
Our arms entwined, our eyes in dreams averted,
We steep our souls in gentle lingering lustre.
We feel so grateful, when to soft discourses
Of tree-tops, slanting rays towards us travel,
And only look, and listen when in pauses,
The ripened fruit resounds upon the gravel.
26
? LET us surround the silent pool
Wherein the water ways commingle,
You seek my chary soul to kindle:
A breeze o'erwafts us chaste and cool.
Prom leaflets that bedeck the ground
Renewed and goodly scents arise,
The coloured volume I expound,
While you repeat the words I prize.
But can you glean the silent sorrows,
And unto deeper joys attain?
With shaded eyes your vision follows
The gentle swans' receding train.
TO-DAY we will not cross the garden railing,
For sometimes swiftly, yet in ways unclear,
This soft caressing or this sweet exhaling,
With long-forgotten joy again draws near:
And thus it brings us ghosts which goad and harass,
And anguish rendering weary and afraid.
Behold beneath the tree upon the terrace
The many corpses from the tempest's raid.
From off the gateway's rusting iron asters,
5The birds take flight to far sequestered greens,
? And others shiv'ring on the stone pilasters
* Drink raindrops from the hollow flower-steens,
27
? The Conquest of Summer
THE blue-toned campions and the blood-red poppies
Escape the murmuring and fleeting grain!
O wander without brooding through these valleys,
Through every oft-entwining path again.
Bestow no heed to signs upon the beeches,
The hand that carved them once now hangs effete,
And be not deaf to other names and speeches:
To young and fresher stems your steps entreat.
Forget the anguish and the ancient bleedings,
The wounds engendered by the thorny rind,
And leaves of arid hours, and empty pleadings,
O'ertrample them and leave them all behind.
28
? DOTH still before thee rise the beauteous image
Of him who high the cliff for roses scales,
Who nigh forgets the day amidst the scrimmage,
Who fullest honey from the bunch inhales?
Who oft towards the park for quiet wandered
When far a bird allured him o'er the lea,
Who sat beside the tranquil pool and pondered,
And listened to the silent secrecy?
And from the moss-crowned island slowly gliding
The swan forsook the fountain's mellow note,
Within his noble infant-hand confiding
The virgin frailty of its slender throat.
29
? Solemn Dances
THERE laughs in the heightening year, Sweet,
The scent from the garden benign.
Weaves in thy fluttering hair, Sweet,
Ivy and celandine.
The wavering corn is like gold, still,
Perhaps not so rich nor so hale,
Roses with greetings unfold still,
Be though their bloom something pale.
Let's hush over all that's denied us,
Let's promise at peace to remain,
Though everything else be decried us
But still a stroll-round atwain.
30
? THE blissful meadows beckoned. To the stile
She came o'er violet carpets soft, attired,
To meet the harvest bridegroom, as erewhile,
To be his truelove till the feast expired.
Only a lark that sang within the grove,
Beheld her start; beheld her secret blushes.
And as the lengthening days of summer throve,
She sighed, then withered by the waving rushes.
And left--her slender sweetness to divine,
Alone a necklace wreathed with silken tresses,
(With which a godly friend arrayed her shrine)
A marble block amid the weeds and cresses.
