Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MAHOMET'S SONG, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE Poet's Biography First Line: See the rock-born stream Last Line: Of his long-expectant sire. Subject(s): Muhammad, The Prophet (570-632); Mahomet; Mohammed | ||||||||
SEE the rock-born stream! Like the gleam Of a star so bright! Kindly spirits High above the clouds Nourished him while youthful In the copse between the cliffs. Young and fresh, From the clouds he danceth Down upon the marble rocks; Then tow'rd heaven Leaps exulting. Through the mountain-passes Chaseth he the color'd pebbles, And, advancing like a chief, Draws his brother streamlets with him In his course. In the vale below 'Neath his footsteps spring the flowers, And the meadow In his breath finds life. Yet no shady vale can stay him, Nor can flowers, Round his knees all softly twining With their loving eyes detain him; To the plain his course he taketh, Serpent-winding. Eager streamlets Join his waters. And now moves he O'er the plain in silv'ry glory, And the plain in him exults, And the rivers from the plain, And the streamlets from the mountain, Shout with joy, exclaiming: "Brother, Brother, take thy brethren with thee. With thee to thine agèd father, To the everlasting ocean, Who, with arms outstretching far, Waiteth for us; Ah, in vain those arms lie open To embrace his yearning children; For the thirsty sand consumes us In the desert waste; the sunbeams Drink our life-blood; hills around us Into lakes would dam us! Brother, Take thy brethren of the plain, Take thy brethren of the mountain With thee, to thy father's arms!" Let all come, then! And now swells he Lordlier still; yea, e'en a people Bears his regal flood on high! And in triumph onward rolling, Names to countries gives he,cities Spring to light beneath his foot. Ever, ever, on he rushes, Leaves the towers' flame-tipp'd summits, Marble palaces, the offspring Of his fulness, far behind. Cedar-houses bears the Atlas On his giant shoulders; flutt'ring In the breeze far, far above him Thousand flags are gaily floating, Bearing witness to his might. And so beareth he his brethren, All his treasures, all his children, Wildly shouting, to the bosom Of his long-expectant sire. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MAHOMET by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A TURKISH ELECTION by ARTHUR GUITERMAN MOHAMMED AND THE ASSASSIN by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES MOHAMMED AND THE BLIND ABDULLAH by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES MOHAMMED AND THE MISER by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES MOHAMMEDANISM by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE INFANCY OF MOHAMMED by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES THE DEER AND THE PROPHET by AGNES MARY F. ROBINSON A SONG FROM THE COPTIC by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE FAUST: SCENE 1. PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE |
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