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Oh what a cackling, what a shrieking,
When near the door she takes her stand,

With her food-basket in her hand!
Oh what a croaking, what a squeaking!

Alive all the trees and the bushes appear,
While to her feet whole troops draw near;

The very fish within, the water clear
Splash with impatience and their heads protrude;

And then she throws around the food
With such a look!--the very gods delighting

(To say nought of beasts). There begins, then, a biting,
A picking, a pecking, a sipping,

And each o'er the legs of another is tripping,
And pushing, and pressing, and flapping,

And chasing, and fuming, and snapping,
And all for one small piece of bread,

To which, though dry, her fair hands give a taste,
As though it in ambrosia had been plac'd.

And then her look! the tone
With which she calls: Pipi! Pipi!

Would draw Jove's eagle from his throne;
Yes, Venus' turtle doves, I wean,

And the vain peacock e'en,
Would come, I swear,

Soon as that tone had reach'd them through the air.
E'en from a forest dark had she

Enticed a bear, unlick'd, ill-bred,
And, by her wiles alluring, led

To join the gentle company,
Until as tame as they was he:

(Up to a certain point, be't understood!)
How fair, and, ah, how good

She seem'd to be! I would have drain'd my blood
To water e'en her flow'rets sweet.

"Thou sayest: I! Who? How? And where?"--
Well, to be plain, good Sirs--I am the bear;

In a net-apron, caught, alas!
Chain'd by a silk-thread at her feet.

But how this wonder came to pass
I'll tell some day, if ye are curious;

Just now, my temper's much too furious.
Ah, when I'm in the corner plac'd,

And hear afar the creatures snapping,
And see the flipping and the flapping,

I turn around
With growling sound,

And backward run a step in haste,
And look around

With growling sound.
Then run again a step in haste,

And to my former post go round.
But suddenly my anger grows,

A mighty spirit fills my nose,
My inward feelings all revolt.

A creature such as thou! a dolt!
Pipi, a squirrel able nuts to crack!

I bristle up my shaggy back
Unused a slave to be.

I'm laughed at by each trim and upstart tree
To scorn. The bowling-green I fly,

With neatly-mown and well-kept grass:
The box makes faces as I pass,--

Into the darkest thickethasten I,
Hoping to 'scape from the ring,

Over the palings to spring!
Vainly I leap and climb;

I feel a leaden spell.
That pinions me as well,

And when I'm fully wearied out in time,
I lay me down beside some mock-cascade,

And roll myself half dead, and foam, and cry,
And, ah! no Oreads hear my sigh,

Excepting those of china made!
But, ah, with sudden power

In all my members blissful feelings reign!
'Tis she who singeth yonder in her bower!

I hear that darling, darling voice again.
The air is warm, and teems with fragrance clear,

Sings she perchance for me alone to hear?
I haste, and trample down the shrubs amain;

The trees make way, the bushes all retreat,
And so--the beast is lying at her feet.

She looks at him: "The monster's droll enough!
He's, for a bear, too mild,

Yet, for a dog, too wild,
So shaggy, clumsy, rough!"

Upon his back she gently strokes her foot;
He thinks himself in Paradise.

What feelings through his seven senses shoot!
But she looks on with careless eyes.

I lick her soles, and kiss her shoes,
As gently as a bear well may;

Softly I rise, and with a clever ruse
Leap on her knee.--On a propitious day

She suffers it; my ears then tickles she,
And hits me a hard blow in wanton play;

I growl with new-born ecstasy;
Then speaks she in a sweet vain jest, I wot

"Allons lout doux! eh! la menotte!
Et faites serviteur

Comme un joli seigneur."
Thus she proceeds with sport and glee;

Hope fills the oft-deluded beast;
Yet if one moment he would lazy be,

Her fondness all at once hath ceas'd.
She doth a flask of balsam-fire possess,

Sweeter than honey bees can make,
One drop of which she'll on her finger take,

When soften'd by his love and faithfulness,
Wherewith her monster's raging thirst to slake;

Then leaves me to myself, and flies at last,
And I, unbound, yet prison'd fast

By magic, follow in her train,
Seek for her, tremble, fly again.

The hapless creature thus tormenteth she,
Regardless of his pleasure or his woe;

Ha! oft half-open'd does she leave the door for me,
And sideways looks to learn if I will fly or no.

And I--Oh gods! your hands alone
Can end the spell that's o'er me thrown;

Free me, and gratitude my heart will fill;
And yet from heaven ye send me down no aid--

Not quite in vain doth life my limbs pervade:
I feel it! Strength is left me still.

1775.
-----

TO CHARLOTTE.
'MIDST the noise of merriment and glee,

'Midst full many a sorrow, many a care,
Charlotte, I remember, we remember thee,

How, at evening's hour so fair,
Thou a kindly hand didst reach us,

When thou, in some happy place
Where more fair is Nature s face,

Many a lightly-hidden trace
Of a spirit loved didst teach us.

Well 'tis that thy worth I rightly knew,--
That I, in the hour when first we met,

While the first impression fill'd me yet,
Call'd thee then a girl both good and true.

Rear'd in silence, calmly, knowingnought,
On the world we suddenly are thrown;

Hundred thousand billows round us sport;
All things charm us--many please alone,

Many grieve us, and as hour on hour is stealing,
To and fro our restless natures sway;

First we feel, and then we find each feeling
By the changeful world-stream borne away.

Well I know, we oft within us find
Many a hope and many a smart.

Charlotte, who can know our mind?
Charlotte, who can know our heart?

Ah! 'twould fain be understood, 'twould fain o'erflow
In some creature's fellow-feelings blest,

And, with trust, in twofold measure know
All the grief and joy in Nature's breast.

Then thine eye is oft around thee cast,
But in vain, for all seems closed for ever.

Thus the fairest part of life is madly pass'd
Free from storm, but resting never:

To thy sorrow thou'rt to-day repell'd
By what yesterday obey'd thee.

Can that world by thee be worthy held
Which so oft betray'd thee?

Which, 'mid all thy pleasures and thy pains,
Lived in selfish, unconcern'd repose?

See, the soul its secret cells regains,
And the heart--makes haste to close.

Thus found I thee, and gladly went to meet thee;
"She's worthy of all love!" I cried,

And pray'd that Heaven with purest bliss might greet thee,
Which in thy friend it richly hath supplied.

1776.*
-----

LOVE'S DISTRESSES.
WHO will hear me? Whom shall I lament to?

Who would pity me that heard my sorrows?
Ah, the lip that erst so many raptures

Used to taste, and used to give responsive,
Now is cloven, and it pains me sorely;

And it is not thus severely wounded
By my mistress having caught me fiercely,

And then gentlybitten me, intending
To secure her friend more firmly to her:

No, my tender lip is crack'd thus, only
By the winds, o'er rime and frost proceeding,

Pointed, sharp, unloving, having met me.
Now the noble grape's bright juice commingled

With the bee's sweet juice, upon the fire
Of my hearth, shall ease me of my torment.

Ah, what use will all this be, if with it
Love adds not a drop of his own balsam?

1789.*
-----

THE MUSAGETES.
IN the deepest nights of Winter

To the Muses kind oft cried I:
"Not a ray of morn is gleaming,

Not a sign of daylight breaking;
Bring, then, at the fitting moment,

Bring the lamp's soft glimm'ring lustre,


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