Life and the Ideal Friedrich Schiller, 1796
Clear horizon and mirror perfect sky Life sails us along on the zephyr's sigh To Olympus where the blessed ones stay. As moon cycles pass and men meet their doom Your eternal rose continues to bloom Unchanged amid perpetual decay. Enrich your soul or surrender to fate Humanity must make its selection Iridescent rays lead to heaven's gate Turn your head to the stars for direction.
Imitate the gods if you desire Believe yourself free of death's empire But don't trample the fruit of the garden. Graze too long on the godly delusion You will find that at pleasure's conclusion Nature's revenge will offer no pardon. Not even the Styx, flowing nine times round Prevents Persephone's earthly arrival Each Spring life grows back on dead winter ground Nature wills her continued survival.
Oh, ironic fate, bound to Nature's realm Corporeal forces direct the helm But the eternal spark reaches beyond. Seeking out the corridors of light Unfettered by nature it soars to flight To be godly as were the divine ones anon. Do you wish to fly high upon these wings To escape a world that is all too real Cast aside your fears of worldly things Come and join me in the realm of the Ideal!
Freed from the earthly pigments, once again young Feel the purifying rays of the sun Above man finds his godly counterpart. The voiceless phantom who resided below Becomes transformed in the Stygian flow And stands before the heavenly rampart. But the gods will not yield without a fight They taunt you with your own mortality Face your own mortal fear then summon your might Strength of conviction brings victory.
Fail in this battle to divide their ranks Give them a chance to fortify their ranks You lose, they win the victor's shabby crown. You must temper the forces of human urge Which condemn us to the tidal flood's surge Into the whirlpool funnel we spin, we drown. Into the pit of deepest depression The intrepid wings of courage descend One brief moment of spirit's ascension Follows us as we spiral to our end.
Is it worth it to protect, to defend To fight the mighty warrior to the end To what end - worldly riches, vainglory? Hence bravery is destroyed by power Like the wagon wheel crushing the flower Just another defeated hero's story. Brazen courage brings fortune and fame To the charioteer who seeks the prize The stronger man gains history's acclaim While the underdog dies before our eyes.
A barrier reef insulates a place From the turbulent rage of the sea's place Smooth and steady flows the river of life. Passing through beauty's silent shadowland Waves tipped with silver caress the shoreline sand It is a world beyond all human strife. The evening star and the goddess of the dawn Stand united in the free bond of grace Temporal limits negated and gone In a tender maternal embrace.
If the dead aspire to creation To reshape themselves with imagination The activities of genius ignite. Nerve pathways open, consciousness expands The body obeys the spirit's commands Human thought can freely seek out the light. Persistence of effort is needed The inner truth of nature is concealed Heavy blows of the chisel are wielded Before the marble statue is revealed.
Explore the nature of earthly suppression Remold the dust and give it direction Elevate it to the aesthetic spheres. Suffering transformed, contentment attained The Garden of Eden will be regained From nothingness the image appears. Mortal doubt, human struggle find repose When sublimated in art's creation March's thorny bush produces June's rose Bringing the weary soul's liberation.
The condemning forces of tragic flaws The enormity of natural laws Fade when exposed to the truth's cleansing ray. Absolved, redeemed, virtuously we bask Ready to take up the holiest task Pursuit of the Ideal glides us away. There's no bridge to walk, no boat in sight The expanse too deep, too long, too wide To cross the abyss you must take to flight Strap on wings and soar to the other side.
Self-imposed limits of the senses flee Once the spirit is allowed to fly free The illusion of fear is negated. The eternal abyss begins to fill Due to our defiance, due to our will We are now to the divine related. The heavy chains which binds us to our fear Continue to enslave humanity Examine, confront, make them disapppear Let's take on the god's immortality.
When mankind clothes himself with compassion When Apollo's priest springs into action The serpent of abyssmal pain departs. Then may humaity raise itself high! Let the heavens thunder a mournful cry They can never destroy our feeling hearts. The awesome power of nature singing The heavens shaken by an earthly chorus No longer to the immortals clinging The eternal spark igniting in us.
In the world of artistic creation Pure form resides within sublimation And the destructive storm rages no more. Pain cannot devour the human soul Or torrents of tears blind us to our goal Courageous resistance has won the war. Filling the brush with our own palette hues We give the sky an iridescent glow Repaint the gray storm clouds with sun-lit blues Over the absyss we paint a rainbow.
Deeply hidden in the cavernous snare The coward suffered infernal despair Until the hero offered salvation. Hercules championed the mortal cause Wrestled the lion, took him by the jaws To save his friends from death's damnation. The goddess of discord composed the waltz So freely we dance to the tune of hatred Consciously we must perceive our own faults And proceed to the realm of the sacred.
We're not ready yet to join the divine The eternal spark we need to refine Before we can sip the heavenly drink. Man must free himself from his earthly plights So he can soar to unaccustomed heights As night terrors into nothingness sink. The gates of Olympus will open wide The gods will welcome us into the palace A pink cheeked goddess will await inside Smiling as she offers us the chalice.
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