The Poems of Schiller — Second period by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
page 43 of 45 (95%)
page 43 of 45 (95%)
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A sort of intellectual mule,
Man's stubborn mind in woman's shape, Too hard to love, too frail to rule-- A sage engrafted on an ape! To what she calls the realm of mind, She leaves that throne, her sex, to crawl, The cestus and the charm resigned-- A public gaping-show to all! She blots from beauty's golden book A name 'mid nature's choicest few, To gain the glory of a nook In Doctor Dunderhead's Review. WRITTEN IN A YOUNG LADY'S ALBUM. Sweet friend, the world, like some fair infant blessed, Radiant with sportive grace, around thee plays; Yet 'tis not as depicted in thy breast-- Not as within thy soul's fair glass, its rays Are mirrored. The respectful fealty That my heart's nobleness hath won for thee, The miracles thou workest everywhere, The charms thy being to this life first lent,-- To it, mere charms to reckon thou'rt content, To us, they seem humanity so fair. The witchery sweet of ne'er-polluted youth, The talisman of innocence and truth-- |
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