For evermore, ye ancient deities, Have ye been wont, in the combats of mortals, To join yourselves to the side of the victor, And therefore is man more high-minded than ye, And in combats of deities deem I it right To take the part of the vanquish’d deities. * * * * * Thus did I speak, and visibly redden’d Yon pale cloudy figures on high, And on me they gazed like dying ones, Sorrow-illumined, and suddenly vanish’d. The moon, too, hid herself Behind the clouds that darkly came over her; High up roarèd the sea, And then triumphantly stood in the heavens The stars all-eternal. 7. QUESTIONS. By the sea, by the desert night-cover’d sea Standeth a youth, His breast full of sadness, his head full of doubtings, And with gloomy lips he asks of the billows: “O answer me life’s hidden riddle, “The riddle primeval and painful, “Over which many a head has been poring, “Heads in hieroglyphical nightcaps, “Heads in turbans and swarthy bonnets, “Heads in perukes, and a thousand other “Poor and perspiring heads of us mortals-- “Tell me what signifies man? “From whence doth he come? And where doth he go? “Who dwelleth amongst the golden stars yonder?” The billows are murm’ring their murmur eternal, The wind is blowing, the clouds are flying, The stars are twinkling, all listless and cold, And a fool is awaiting an answer. 8. THE PHŒNIX. There comes a bird who hath flown from the westward, He flies tow’rd the east, Tow’rd the eastern garden-home, Where the spices so fragrant are growing, And palms are waving and wells are cooling-- And, flying, the wondrous bird thus singeth She loves him, she loves him! His image she bears in her little bosom, And bears it sweetly and secretly hidden, Nor knows it herself! But in her vision, before her he stands, She prays, and she weeps, and she kisses his hands, And calls on his name, And calling awakes she and lieth all-startled, And rubbeth her beauteous eyes in amazement-- She loves him! she loves him! 9. ECHO. ’Gainst the mast reclining, and high on the lofty deck Stood I and heard I the song of the bird. Like black-green steeds, with silvery manes, The white and curling billows were springing; Like flocks of swans were sailing past us, With glittering sails, the men of Heligoland, The nomads bold of the Baltic. Over my head, in the azure eterne, Snowy clouds were fluttering on, While sparkled the sun everlasting, The rose of the heavens, the fiery-blooming one, Who joyfully mirror’d himself in the ocean; And heaven and ocean and with them my heart In echo resounded: She loves him! She loves him! 10. SEA-SICKNESS.