--_Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold._ He sings the song which has so often been set to music:-- “’Tis with me as the wild brook By summer-rains swelled, Which carries rocks, tree-trunks, All headlong impelled. ’Tis with me as the tempest Which knows not its mind, But something must shatter, Such might is behind! ’Tis with me as the gold sun Whose beams are so bland; Full fain I’d kiss Heaven, And ocean, and land. ’Tis with me as with sweet songs Which soft music spread, And bring living echoes From rocks that were dead. ’Tis with me as with high God Who pardons above; All life is so lovely, I am love-sick for Love!” --_Translated by Sir Edwin Arnold._ Dämona, the enchantress, is gifted with a beauty which kills and destroys. A youth beholds her suddenly as she appears on a lonely height, and falls desperately in love with her. Lightning flashes from her shining golden hair, but the idea of being loved by an innocent being charms her fancy. The hunter has tracked her to her winter palace of ice by the sea. She is overcome by his passionate love for her, and sinks into his arms. At that moment the icy building gives way and falls to pieces, and they are buried in the deep. In “Jehovah” Carmen Sylva has endeavoured to represent the doubt, Does God exist or not? which is for ever struggling in the mind of man. Ahasuerus desires to trace all things to their origin. He regards eternal life as a curse. His vocation is accomplished if he can attain to knowledge. “Show me the God who all has made, And Him will I adore; Show me the God who guides the sun, And Him will I adore; Show Him whose voice sounds like the storm, Who mows the trees as they were grass, And Him will I adore.” He seeks God in art, in his own restless activity, in the passion of love, in the desire of possession, &c. But everywhere the answer comes, “God is not here.” At last he realises God in the eternal laws of nature. Then death comes and releases the believer. “Jehovah” was translated into French verse in 1887 by Hélène Vacaresco, a youthful poetess. “The Pilgrimage of Sorrow,” a cycle of fairy tales, also appeared in 1882. The poetic fancy of Carmen Sylva has here treated the question, “Whence and for what reason do sorrow and suffering come?” symbolically, and placed it in fairy tales. “To live is to suffer, but two faithful comforters remain at your side during the fight and help you to endure. They are termed Patience and Labour.” This is the leading idea of this poem. The royal lady possesses a wonderful power of representing the deepest feelings of the heart, which only those can do who have gone through all phases of suffering. She has a fellow-feeling for all who strive and struggle, and can realise and deeply sympathise with the sufferings of humanity.