auty round the eternal throne dost cast
A brightness that outshines its living rays:
There in the fulness of transcendent joy
Heaven's king and thou sit in bright majesty:
Would I were there, a welcom'd guest at last
Where angel tongues reecho praise to praise!
There Michael sings the blessed Saviour's name
Till round the eternal throne it rings once more,
And angels in their choirs with glad acclaim,
Triumphant host, their joyful praises pour:
There thousand years than days more short appear,
Such joy from God doth flow and from that mother dear."

The eternal longing for the divine then melts mysteriously into the
longing for the youthful love of woman. This longing is perhaps nowhere
in literature expressed with more touching, more naive delicacy than by
Gottfried when he has fair Sigune speak to Herzeloide concerning her
Schionatulander whom she loved as ever woman loved man, and who was then
absent in war:

"For the loved friend is all my spying;
From the window on the road, over heather and bright meadows
All in vain; I espy him not:
Alas! my eyes by tears must dearly pay for longing love.

"From the window do I ascend to the battlement,
And spy eastward, westward, after tidings from him,
Who long ere this has conquered all my soul;
Count me among old lovers, for my love abides.
'When I then on wild tides glide in my boat,
My eyes glance over thirty miles away,
If I may find such tidings
As would free me from sad longing for my bright young friend.

"Where is my joy? Why has departed
Lofty spirit from my heart?
Pain and woe expelled our peace;
I would gladly suffer for him, if I suffered but alone,
Yet I know sweet longing draws him hither, though he must be far.

"Woe to me! How can he come? All too far is my true one.
For him I shudder now in cold, now burn in fire.
Thus Schionatulander makes me glow,
His love kindles me as Agremontin does the Salamander."

Yet whether lofty or earthly, platonic or ardent, the centre of the
lyrics of the Minnesingers is always the relation of the sexes. The
manner of giving expression to the "eternal feelings" as Goethe calls
them varies according to the desire, the hope, or the hope