The Evening Star

There was, as in the fairy tales,As ne'er in the time's raid,There was, of famous royal bloodA most beautiful maid.

She was her parents' only child,Bright like the sun at noon,Like the Virgin midst the saintsAnd among stars the moon.

From the deep shadow of the vaultsHer step now she directsToward a window; at its nookBright Evening-star expects.

She looks as in the distant seasHe rises, darts his raysAnd leads the blackish, loaded shipsOn the wet, moving, ways.

To look at him every nightHer soul her instincts spur;And as he looks at her for weeksHe falls in love with her.

And as on her elbows she leansHer temple and her whimShe feels in her heart and soul thatShe falls in love with him.

And ev'ry night his stormy flamesMore stormily renewWhen in the shadow of the castleShe shows to his bright view.

* *

And to her room with her slow stepsHe bears his steps and aimsWeaving out of his sparkles coldA toil of shaking flames.

And when she throws upon her bedHer tired limbs and reposes,He glides his light along her handsAnd her sweet eyelash closes.

And from the mirror on her shapeA beam has spread and burns,On her big eyes that beat though closedAnd on her face that turns.

Her smiles view him; the mirror showsHim trembling in the nookFor he is plunging in her dreamSo that their souls may hook.

She speaks with him in sleep and sighsWhile her heart's swelled veins drum:-"O sweet Lord of my fairy nights,Why comest thou not? Come!

Descend to me, mild Evening-starThou canst glide on a beam,Enter my dwelling and my mindAnd over my life gleam!"

And he listens and trembles andStill more for her love cravesAnd as quick as the lightning hePlunges into the waves.

The water in that very spotMoves rolling many ringsAnd out of the unknown, dark, depthA superb young man springs.

As on a threshold o'er the sillHis hasty steps he leads,Holds in his hand a staff with, atIts top, a crown of reeds!

A young Voivode he seems to beWith soft and golden hair;A blue shroud binds in a knot onHis naked shoulder fair.

The shade of his face is of waxAnd thou canst see throughout -A handsome dead man with live eyesThat throw their sparkles out.

-"From my sphere hardly I come toFollow thy call and thee,The heaven is my father andMy mother is the sea.

So that I could come to thy roomAnd look at thee from nearWith my light reborn from waves myFate toward thee I steer.

O come, my treasure wonderfulAnd thy world leave aside;For I am Evening-star up fromAnd thou wouldst be my bride.

In my palace of coral I'llTake thee for evermoreAnd the entire world of the seaWill kneel before thy door."

-"O thou art beautiful as butIn dreams an angel shows,The way though thou hast oped for meFor me's for ever close.

Thy port and mien and speech are strangeLife thy gleams don't impart,For I'm alive and thou art deadAnd thy eyes chill my heart."

* *

Days have past since: but Evening-starComes up againd and staysJust as before, spreading o'er herHis clear, translucent rays.

In sleep she would remember himAnd, as before, her wholeWish for the Master of the wavesIs clinching now her soul.

-"Descend to me, mild Evening-starThou canst glide on a beam,Enter my dwelling and my mindAnd over my life gleam!"

He hears: and from the dire despairOf such an woeful weirdHe dies, and the heavens revolveWhere he has disappeared.

Soon in the air flames ruddy spread,The world in their grip hold;A superb form the spasms of theChaotic valleys mold.

On his locks of black hair he bearsHis crown a fierce fire frames;He floats as he really comesSwimming in the sun's flames.

His black shroud lets develop outHis arms marbly and hale;He pensively and sadly bringsHis face awfully pale.

But his big wonderful eyes' gleam,Chimerically deep,Shows two unsatiated spasmsThat but into dark peep.

-"From my sphere hardly I come toFollow thy voice, thy sight;The bright sun is my father andMy mother is the night.

O come, my treasure wonderfulAnd thy world leave asideFor I am Evening-star from upAnd thou wouldst be my bride.

O come, and upon thy blond hairCrowns of stars I shall crowd,And more that all of them, up there,Thou wild look fair and proud."

-"O thou art beautiful as butIn dreams a demon shows,The way though hast oped for meFor me's for ever close.

The depths of my breast ache from theDesire of thy fierce loveMy heavy, big eyes also acheWhen into them thine shove".

-"But how wouldst thou that I come down?Know this - for, do I lie? -:I am immortal, while thou artOne of those that must die!"

-"I hate big words, nor do I knowHow to begin my plea;And although thy discourse is clearI don't understand thee.

But if thou wantest my flamed loveAnd that would not be sham,Come down on this temporal earth,Be mortal as I am!"

-"I'd lose my immortalityFor but one kiss of thine!Well, I will show thee how much tooFor thy fierce love I pine!

Yes, I shall be reborn from sin,Receive another creed:From that endlessness to which IAm tied, I shall be freed!"

And out he went, he went, went out,Loving a human fay,He plucked himself off from the sky,Went for many a day.

* *

Meanwhile, the house-boy, Catalin,Sly, and who often jestsWhen he's filling with wine the cupsOf the banqueting guests;

A page that carries step by stepThe trail of the Queen's gown,A wandering bastard, but boldLike no one in the town;

His little cheek - a peonyThat under the sun stews;Watchful, just like a thief, he sneaksIn Catalina's views.

-"How beautiful she grew" - thinks he -"A flower just to pluck!Now, Catalin, but now it isThy chance to try thy luck!"

And by the way, hurriedly, heCorners that human fay:-"What's with thee, Catalin? Let meAlone and go thy way!"

-"No! I want thee to stay awayFrom thoughts that have no fun.I want to see thee only laugh,Give me a kiss, just one!"

-"I don't know what it is aboutAnd, believe me, retire!But for one Evening-star up fromI've kept my strong desire!"

-"If thou dost not know I could showThee all about love's balm!Only, don't give way to thy ireAnd listen and be calm.

So as the hunter throws the netThat many birds would harm,When I'll stretch my left arm to thee,Enlace me with thy arm.

Under my eyes keep thine and don'tLet them move on their wheelsAnd if I lift thee by the waistThou must lift on thy heels.

When I bend down my face, to holdThine up must be thy strife;So, to each other we could throwSweet, eager, looks for life.

And so that thou have about loveA knowledge true and plain,When I stoop to kiss thee, thou mustKiss me too and again."

With much bewilderment her mindThe little boy's word fills,And shyly and nicely now sheWills not, and now she wills.

And slowly she tells him:- "Since thyChildhood I've known thy wit,And as thou art and glib and smallMy temper thou wouldst fit.

But Evening-star sprung from the calmOf the oblivion,Though, gives horizon limitlessTo the sea lone and dun.

And secretly, I close my eyesFor my eyelash tears dimWhen the waves of the sea go onTravelling toward him.

He shines with love unspeakableSo that my pains he'd leach,But higher and higher soars, soThat his hand I'd ne'er reach.

Sadly thrusts from the worlds which fromMy soul his cold ray bar...I shall love him for ever andFor ever he'll rove far.

Like the unmeasured steppes my daysAre deaf and wild, therefore,But my nights spread a holy charmI understand no more!"

-"Thou art a child! Let's go! Through newLands our own fate let's frame!Soon they shall have lost our trace andForgot even our name!

We shall be both wise, glad and wholeAs my judgement infersAnd thou wouldst not long for thy kinNor yearn for Evening-stars!"

* *

Then Evening-star went out. His wingsGrow, into heavens dash,And on his way millenniumsFlee in less than a flash.

Below, a depth of stars; above,The heaven stars begem, -He seems an endless lightning thatIs wandering through them.

And from the Chaos' vales he seesHow in an immense ringRound him, as in the World's first day,Lights from their sources spring;

How, springing, they hem him like anOcean that swimming nears...He flees carried by his desireUntil he disappears.

For that region is boundless andSearching regards avoidsAnd Time strive vainly there to comeTo life from the dark voids.

'Tis nought. 'Tis, though, thirst that sips himAnd which he cannot shun,'Tis depth unknown, comparableTo blind oblivion.

-"From that dark, choking, endlessnessInto which I am furled,Father, undo me, and for e'erBe praised in the whole world!

Ask anything for this new fateFor with mine I am through:O hear my prayer, O my Lord, forThou gives life and death too.

Take back my endlessness, the firesThat my being devourAnd in return give me a chanceTo love but for an hour!

I've come from Chaos; I'd returnTo that my former nest...And as I have been brought to lifeFrom rest, I crave for rest!"

-"Hyperion, that comest fromThe depths with the world's swarm,Do not ask signs and miraclesThat have no name nor form.

Thou wantest to count among men,Take their resemblance vain;But would now the whole mankind dieMen will be born again.

But they are building on the windIdeals void and blind;When human waves run into gravesNew waves spring from behind.

Fate's persecutions, lucky stars,They only are to own;Here we know neither time nor space,Death we have never known.

From the eternal yesterdayDrinks what to-day will drainAnd if a sun dies on the skyA sun quickens again.

Risen as for ever, death thoughFollows them like a thornFor all are born only to dieAnd die to be reborn.

But thou remainest wheresoe'erThou wouldst set down or flee.Thou art of the prime form and anEternal prodigy.

Thou wilt now hear the wondrous voiceAt whose bewitched singingMounts woody get skipping to skiesInto sea Island sinking!

Perhaps thou wilt more: show in deedsThy sense of justice, might,Out of the earth's lumps make an empireAnd settle on its height!

I can give thee millions of vesselsAnd hosts; thou, bear thy breathO'er all the lands, o'er all the oceans:I cannot give thee death.

For whom thou wantest then to die?Just go and see what's worthAll that is waiting there for theeOn that wandering earth!"

* *

His first dominion on the skyHyperion restoresAnd like in his first day, his lightAll o'er again he pours.

For it is evening and the nightHer duty never waives.Now the moon rises quietlyAnd shaking from the waves,

And upon the paths of the grovesHer sparkles again drone...Under the row of linden-treesTwo youths sit all alone.

-"O darling, let my blessed ear feelHow thy heart's pulses beat,Under the ray of thy eyes clearAnd unspeakably sweet.

With the charms of their cold light pierceMy thought's faery glades,Pour an eternal quietnessOn my passion's dark shades.

And there, above, remain to stopThy woe's violet stream,For thou art my first source of loveAnd also my last dream!"

Hyperion beholds how loveTheir eyes equally charms:Scarcely his arm touches her neck,She takes him in her arms.

The silvery blooms spread their smellsAnd their soft cascade strokesThe tops of the heads of both youthsWith long and golden locks.

And all bewitched by love, she liftsHer eyes toward the firesOf the witnessing Evening-starAnd trusts him her desires:

-"Descend to me, mild Evening-starThou canst glide on a beam,Enter my forest and my mindAnd o'er my good luck gleam!"

As he did it once, into woods,On hills, his rays he urges,Guiding throughout so many wildsThe gleaming, moving, surges.

But he falls not as he did onceFrom his height into swells:-"What matters thee, clod of dust, if'Tis me or some one else?

You live in your sphere's narrownessAnd luck rules over you -But in my steady world I feelEternal, cold and true!"