- #1
You come back, wavering shapes, out of the past
In which you first appeared to clouded eyes.
- #2
Should I attempt this time to hold you fast?
Does this old dream still thrill a heart so wise?
- #3
You crowd? You press? Have, then, your way at last.
As from the mist around me you arise;
- #4
My breast is stirred and feels with youthful pain
The magic breath that hovers round your train.
- #5
With you return pictures of joyous days,
Shadows that I once loved again draw near;
- #6
Like a primeval tale, half lost in haze,
First love and friendship also reappear;
- #7
Grief is renewed, laments retrace the maze
Of Life's strange labyrinthian career,
- #8
Recalling dear ones who, by fortune's treason
Robbed of fair hours, passed before my season.
- #9
They will not hear me as I sing these songs,
The parted souls to whom I sang the first;
- #10
Gone is that first response, in vain one longs
For friendly crowds that have long been dispersed.
- #11
My grief resounds to strangers, unknown throngs
Applaud it, and my anxious heart would burst.
- #12
Whoever used to praise my poem's worth,
If they still live, stray scattered through the earth.
- #13
And I am seized by long forgotten yearning
For that kingdom of spirits, still and grave;
- #14
To flowing song I see my feelings turning,
As from aeolian harps, wave upon wave;
- #15
A shudder grips me, tear on tear falls burning,
Soft grows my heart, once so severe and brave;
- #16
What I possess, seems far away to me,
And what is gone becomes reality.
- #17
You two, that often stood by me
In former times of trouble, say:
- #18
What are the chances for our play,
If we perform in Germany?
- #19
To please crowds is what I desire most,
For they not only live, but let live, too.
- #20
The boards are up, and one sees post by post,
And everyone expects a feast from you.
- #21
I see them sit there with wide open eyes,
Relaxed and hoping for a great surprise.
- #22
I know quite well how people are impressed,
But I have never been in such a spot:
- #23
While they are not accustomed to the best,
They certainly have read a lot.
- #24
How go about it, so it will seem new,
Significant, and pleasing to them, too?
- #25
Of course, I like to see the crowded lanes
When streams of people rush to our place
- #26
And, with tremendous and recurrent pains,
Press, eager, through the narrow gate of grace;
- #27
When it is day, not even four,
They fight and push each other, coax and vex,
- #28
And, as in famine time, for bread at baker's door,
To get a ticket almost break their necks.
- #29
This wonder works upon such different men
The poet only-friend, do it again!
- #30
Don't speak to me of crowds at whose mere sight
The spirit flees us! That you could confine
- #31
The surging rabble that draws us with might
To compromise our every great design!
- #32
Lead me to heaven's silence, whose delight
The poet only feels; let love combine
- #33
With friendship to create and nurse
With godlike hands the gift of verse!
- #34
What deep in our breast was thus inspired,
What shy lips babbled in a quiet hour,
- #35
Clumsy perhaps, and rarely as desired,
Is swallowed by a savage moment's power.
- #36
And years may pass before it has acquired
Its perfect form and opens like a flower.
- #37
Glitter is coined to meet the moment's rage;
The genuine lives on from age to age.
- #38
From age to age! What silly, fruitless chat!
Posterity! If I would talk of that,
- #39
Who would amuse the folks today?
That's what they want, give them their fare!
- #40
The presence of a decent lad out there
Amounts to something, I should say.
- #41
Who knows the art of pleasant self-expression
Need not resent the popular decree;
- #42
He thrives on widespread appreciation,
And moves the mass more certainly.
- #43
So be exemplary in every fashion,
Give reign to many-throated fantasy,
- #44
To reason, thought, and sentiment, and passion
But, mark it well, not without foolery!
- #45
Above all, let us have a lot of action!
They want a show, that gives them satisfaction.
- #46
The more you can enact before their eyes,
The greater is your popular acclaim;
- #47
And if the crowd can gape in dumb surprise,
You gain a celebrated name.
- #48
The mass is overwhelmed only by masses,
Each likes some part of what has been presented.
- #49
He that gives much, gives something to all classes,
And everybody will go home contented.
- #50
You have a piece, give it in pieces then!
Write a ragout, you have a pen;