Classic Poem

12. Peace.
High in Heaven the sun was standing,
The white clouds billowy around him.
The sea was calm,
And musing I lay at the stern of our vessel,
Musing and dreaming, and half in waking
And half in sleep, I gazed on Christus,
Redeemer of Man!
In snowy flowing garments,
Giant-like strode he afar
Over land and sea.
His head reached up to the welkin;
His hands were stretched in blessing,
And as his heart did he bear
The sun itself in his bosom,
The sun ablaze and encrimsoned,
And the blazing, crimsoning sun-heart
Poured forth his rays of mercy,
And his gracious love-bearing beams
Illuming and warming,
Over land and sea.

Bells resounding drew us solemnly,
Hither and thither drew us like swans.
With bands of roses drew our gliding ship,
And drew it sportive to shores of verdure,
Where men were dwelling in many-towered
And lofty cities.
Oh, marvel of calm! Still lay the town;
The dull, heavy sound of its trade,
The clatter and fever, were over;
And through the clean-swept, echoing street ways
White-vestured men crowded together
Bearing palm-branches;
And where two came together
Each gazed on each in communion,
And quivering with love and a sweet self-negation
Kissed on the brows one another,
And gazed up on high
To the Saviour's glowing sun-heart,
Which shed on its rays its crimsoning blood,
Gladly atoning,
And rapt in three-fold bliss they cried,
" Blessed be Jesu Christ! "

What wouldst not thou have given
To have evolved such a vision,
Dearly beloved?
O thou of feeble head and loins
And of mighty faith?
Thou, who honouring the Trinity in Unity,
And daily beslavering
Thy great patroness' pug and her cross and her paw,
Hast crawled devoutly upward
To sit in the seats of the mighty —
Hofrath, Justizrath, and finally Privy Councillor
In that virtuous city,
Famed for its sand and its piety,
Where Sprea, the holy river,
Patiently washes the souls and waters the tea of the faithful.
Dearly beloved,
Thou hadst forthwith offered it for sale
In the highest quarters.
Thy pallid, blinking face
Had been transfused with modest rapture;
Her Serenity
Had sunk on her knees with thee,
And her eye, rolling in pious ecstasy,
Had held out sweet promise
Of additional income —
Some hundred Prussian thalers —
And, folding thine hands, thou had'st stammered:
" Blessed be Jesus Christ! "