In den Dörfern windstillen Lebens Genüge, 5
Auf den Feldern fleißige Spaten und Pflüge,
Alles das von der Sonne beschienen
So hell, so hell.
* * * * *
138. SCHÖNE JUNITAGE
Mitternacht, die Gärten lauschen,
Flüsterwort und Liebeskuß,
Bis der letzte Klang verklungen,
Weil nun alles schlafen muß—
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 5
Sonnengrüner Rosengarten,
Sonnenweiße Stromesflut,
Sonnenstiller Morgenfriede,
Der auf Baum und Beeten ruht—
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 10
Straßentreiben, fern, verworren,
Reicher Mann und Bettelkind,
Myrtenkränze, Leichenzüge,
Tausendfältig Leben rinnt—-
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 15
Langsam graut der Abend nieder,
Milde wird die harte Welt,
Und das Herz macht seinen Frieden,
Und zum Kinde wird der Held—-
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 20
A WORD TO THE READER
Verse must be read aloud. Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, vowel coloring, the effect of enjambement, to name only the more obvious phenomena, appeal solely to the ear. Looking at a page of verse is like looking at a page of music. Unless the symbols are translated into sound values, the effect is blank. A skilled musician is able to translate the printed notes to the inner sense, but even he will prefer to hear the music and will always consider this the final test. Thus it is also with verse: it must be read aloud. Lyric verse is best read in privacy or in a small congenial group. When the humdrum noise and the humdrum cares of the world have vanished, then the moment has come when one may steep one's soul in lyric beauty. One never tires of a really great lyric: like a true friend, a longer acquaintance adds only new delight.
And why read lyric poetry at all? Some people ask that question, and for them the case may be hopeless. If the lyric sense is utterly lacking, then it is their sad lot to live in the desert of the practical world. Art is not for them: neither music nor poetry nor painting nor sculpture nor architecture; for something of the lyric impulse lives in all of these. But many ask that question who some day will see, and for them I must attempt a brief answer. All literature is an interpretation of life, and the better one understands life the better one understands literature, and vice versa. Lyric poetry is the most direct interpretation of life, because here the poet reveals his innermost self directly. We strive to enrich our intellectual power by reliving the thought of Plato and of Kant. Why not enrich our emotional life and our whole being by reliving the world of Goethe or Shelley? The poets have lived for us, and the pure essence of their life we can make our own in their lyric verse.