,
And through thy magic spell
Hast quickened me with fierce desire,
This flame thou canst not quell.

Oh press thy lips against my lips,
Divine is mortal breath;
I drink thy very soul from thee.
Insatiable is death.

SONG.

There stands a lonely pine-tree
In the north, on a barren height;
He sleeps while the ice and snow flakes
Swathe him in folds of white.

He dreameth of a palm-tree
Far in the sunrise-land,
Lonely and silent longing
On her burning bank of sand.

THE NORTH SEA.

1825-26.

TO
FREDERICK MERCKEL,

THE PICTURES OF
THE NORTH SEA
ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.

THE NORTH SEA.

FIRST CYCLUS.

"To be disinterested in everything, but above all in love and
friendship, was my supreme wish, my maxim, my practice; hence
my daring expression at a later period: 'If I love thee, what
is that to thee?' sprang directly from my heart."
Goethe's "Truth and Poetry," Book XIV.

I. CORONATION.

Oh songs of mine! beloved songs of mine,
Up, up! and don your armor,
And let the trumpets blare,
And lift upon your shield
This youthful maiden
Who now shall reign supreme
Over my heart, as queen!
Hail! hail! thou youthful queen!

From the sun above
I snatch the beaming red gold,
And weave therewith a diadem
For thy consecrated head.
From the fluttering azure-silken canopy of heaven,
Where blaze the diamonds of night,
A precious fragment I cut:
And as a coronation mantle,
I hang it upon thy royal shoulders.
I bestow on thee a court
Of richly-attired sonnets,
Haughty _Terzine_ and stately stanzas.
My wit shall serve thee as courier,
My fancy shall be thy fool,
Thy herald, whose crest is a smiling tear,
Shall be my humor.

But I myself, oh Queen,
Low do I kneel before thee,
On the cushion of crimson samite,
And as homage I dedicate to thee.
The tiny morsel of reason,
That has been compassionately spared me
By thy predecessor in the realm.

II. TWILIGHT.

On the wan shore of the sea
Lonely I sat with troubled thoughts.
The sun dropped lower, and cast
Glowing red streaks on the water.