As Zaidu sadly turns and rides away,
The hermit from his cave comes forth to pray:
"Alas! hath all these wilds their charms here lost?
And is my breast with wild ambition tost?
My lonely cot I look upon with shame;
Again I long to seek the fields of fame,
Where luxury my remaining years
May crown, and happiness may find—or tears;
'Tis true! I should have welcomed the bar-ru;[1]
But he hath since returned to Subartu."[2]
His harp he took from its dust-covered case,
And kissed its carved and well-remembered face;
And tuning it, he glanced toward the wood,
And sang his farewell ode to solitude:
Farewell, ye mountains, woods and trees—
My heart doth long again for joy;
I love your wilds and mossy leas,
But oh, your solitude doth cloy!
I love to see the bur-khi-is[3]
Sweep stately o'er the mossy rocks;
And tsabi[4] in a wild like this,
Hear the tattoo of red woodchucks.
I love the cries of lig-bar-ri[5]
The nes-i[6] calling for their prey;
And leaping of the na-a-li[7]
That fly in wildest fear away.
I love the bu-hir-tser-i[8] all,
Khar-sa-a-nii sa-qu-u-tu;[9]
Hear cu-uts-tsi[10] with thunder roll
Across the skies within my view.
I love to see the ca-ca-bi[11]
Peep through the pine-trees o'er my home,
And watch the wild tu-ra-a-khi[12]
And arme[13] welcome, to me come.
Farewell! ye solitudes, farewell!
I will not moulder rotting lie
With no one's lips to wish me well;
O give me immortality!
But what is fame? A bubble blown
Upon the breeze, that bursts its shell,
And all our brightest hopes are flown,
And leaves our solitude a hell.
The holy minstrel bows his head in woe,
And sweeps the harpstrings with a movement slow;
Then lifts his eyes toward the setting sun,
His evening invocation thus begun:
[14]O Samas! to the lifting of my hands
Show favor! unto me thy servant turn!
What man before thy blessèd Light withstands?
O thou! what mortal thine own words can learn?
And who can rival them inviolate?
[15]Among the gods no equal thou hast found.
In Heaven who of all the gods is great?
O thou alone! art great through Heaven's bound!