Lost on the mountain height

Where the first winds are stirred,

Out of the wells of night
I am thy word.

Lord of the haunted hush,
Where raptures throng,
I am thy hermit thrush,
Ending no song.

Lord of the frost and cold,

Lord of the North,

When the red sun grows old

And day goes forth,

I shall put off this girth,

Go glad and free,

Earth to my mother earth,
Spirit to thee.

II

Lord of my heart's elation,
Spirit of things unseen,
Be thou my aspiration
Consuming and serene!

Bear up, bear out, bear onward
This mortal soul alone,
To selfhood or oblivion,
Incredibly thine own,—

As the foam heads are loosened
And blown along the sea,
Or sink and merge forever
In that which bids them be.

HYMN TO ZEUS

CLEANTHES (From the Greek)

Translated by Plumptre

Most glorious of all the Undying, many-named, girt round with awe!

Jove, author of Nature, applying to all things the rudder of law,

Hail! Hail! For it justly rejoices the races whose life is a

span

To lift unto thee their voices-the Author and Framer of man. For we are thy sons; thou didst give us the symbols of speech at our birth,

Alone of all the things that live and mortal move upon earth. Wherefore thou shalt find me extolling and ever singing thy praise;

Since thee the great Universe, rolling on its path round the world, obeys

Obeys thee, wherever thou guidest, and gladly is bound in thy hands,

So great is the power thou confidest, with strong, invincible

hands,

To thy mighty ministering servant, the bolt of the thunder, that flies

Two-edged, like a sword, and fervent, that is living and never dies.

All nature, in fear and dismay, doth quake in the path of its stroke,

What time thou preparest the way for the one Word thy lips have spoken

Which blends with lights smaller and greater, which pervadeth and thrilleth all things.

So great is thy power and thy nature-in the Universe Highest of Kings!

On earth, of all deeds that are done, O God! there is none without thee;

In the holy ether not one, nor one on the face of the sea;

Save the deeds that evil men, driven by their own blind folly have planned;

But things that have grown uneven are made even again by thy hand;

And things unseemly grow seemly, the unfriendly are friendly to thee;

For no good and evil supremely thou hast blended in one by

decree.

For all thy decree is one, ever,-a word that endureth for

aye,

Which mortals, rebellious, endeavor to flee from and shun to obey

Ill-fated, that, worn with proneness for the lordship of all goodly things,

Neither hear nor behold, in its oneness, the law that divinity brings;

Which men with reason obeying, might attain unto glorious life, No longer aimlessly straying in the paths of ignoble strife. There are men with a zeal, unblest, that are wearied with following fame,

And men with a baser quest, that are turned to lucre and shame, There are men, too, that pamper and pleasure the flesh with delicate stings;

All these desire beyond measure to be other than all these things.

Great Jove, all-giver, dark-clouded, great Lord of the thunderbolt's breath!

Deliver the men that are shrouded in ignorance dismal as death. O father, dispel from their souls the darkness, and grant them

the light

Of reason, thy stay, when the whole wide world thou rulest with might,

That we, being honored, may honor thy name with the music

of hymns,

Exalting the deeds of the Donor, unceasing, as rightly beseems

Mankind; for no worthier trust is awarded to God or to Man Than forever to glory with justice in the law that endures and is One.

O, THOU ETERNAL ONE!

DERZHAVIN

Translated by Sir John Bowring

(Secretary of State under Catherine II)

O thou eternal one! whose presence bright
All space doth occupy, all motions guide;
Unchanged through time's all-devastating flight;
Thou only God! There is no God beside!
Being of all beings! Mighty One!

Whom none could comprehend and none explore;
Who fillst existence with Thyself alone:
Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er,-
Being whom we call God, and know no more!

In its sublime research philosophy

May measure out the ocean deeps, may count
The sands or the sun's rays; but God! for thee
There is no weight nor measure: none can mount
Up to thy mysteries. Reason's brightest spark,
Though kindled by thy light, in vain would try
To trace thy counsels, infinite and dark;

And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments in eternity.

Thou from primeval nothingness didst call
First chaos, then existence: Lord, on thee

Eternity had its foundation; all

Sprung from thee,-of light, joy, harmony,
Sole origin: all life, all beauty thine.
Thy word created all and doth create;
Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine.

Thou wert and art and shalt be! Glorious! Great!
Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate!

Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround,
Upheld by thee, by thee inspired with breath!
Thou the beginning with the end hast bound,
And beautifully mingled life with death!
As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze,
So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from thee,
And as the spangles in the sunny rays

Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry
Of heaven's bright army glitters in thy praise.

A million torches lighted by thy hand
Wander unwearied through the blue abyss:
They own thy power, accomplish thy command,
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss.
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light,
A glorious company of golden streams,
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright,
Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams?
But thou to these art as the noon to night.

Yes! As a drop of water in the sea,
All this magnificence in thee is lost:

What are ten thousand worlds compared to thee?
What am I, then? Heaven's unnumbered host,
Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed
In all the glory of sublimest thought,

Is but an atom in the balance, weighed
Against thy greatness, is a cipher brought

Against infinity! Oh, what am I, then? Nought!

Nought, yet the effulgence of thy light divine,
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom, too;