lances to my soul the link--
_This_ made me burn thy very breath to drink--
My life in thine to sink:
And therefore, as before the conqueror's glaive,
Flies, without strife subdued, the ready slave,
So, when to life's unguarded fort, I see
Thy gaze draw near and near triumphantly--
Yieldeth my soul to thee!
Therefore my soul doth from its lord depart,
_Because_, beloved, its native home thou art;
Because the twins recall the links they bore,
And soul with soul, in the sweet kiss of yore,
Meets and unites once more.
Thou too--Ah, there thy gaze upon me dwells,
And thy young blush the tender answer tells;
Yes! with the dear relation still we thrill,
Both lives--tho' exiles from the homeward hill--
_One_ life--all glowing still!

* * * * *

TO LAURA.

(Rapture.)

Laura--above this world methinks I fly,
And feel the glow of some May-lighted sky,
When thy looks beam on mine!
And my soul drinks a more ethereal air,
When mine own shape I see reflected there,
In those blue eyes of thine!
A lyre-sound from the Paradise afar,
A harp-note trembling from some gracious star,
Seems the wild ear to fill;
And my muse feels the Golden Shepherd-hours,
When from thy lips the silver music pours
Slow, as against its will.
I see the young Loves flutter on the wing--
Move the charm'd trees, as when the Thracian's string
Wild life to forests gave;
Swifter the globe's swift circle seems to fly,
When in the whirling dance thou glidest by,
Light as a happy wave.
Thy looks, when there love sheds the loving smile,
Could from the senseless marble life beguile--
Lend rocks a pulse divine;
Into a dream my very being dies,
I can but read--for ever read--thine eyes--
Laura, sweet Laura, mine![13]

[Footnote 13: We confess we cannot admire the sagacity of those who
have contended that Schiller's passion for Laura was purely Platonic.]

* * * * *

TO LAURA PLAYING.

When o'er the chords thy fingers steal,
A soulless statue now I feel,
And now a soul set free!
Sweet Sovereign! ruling over death and life--
Seizes the heart, in a voluptuous strife
As with a thousand strings--the SORCERY![14]

[Footnote 14: "The Sorcery."--In the original, Schiller has an
allusion of very questionable t