INVOCATION. "I call'd on dreams and visions, to disclose That which is veil'd from waking thought; conjured To appear and answer." WORDSWORTH. ANSWER me, burning stars of night! That past the reach of human sight, Ask that which cannot die." Oh! many-toned and chainless wind ! Ye clouds, that gorgeously repose The bright clouds answer'd-"We depart, Ask what is deathless in thy heart, For that which cannot die." Speak then, thou voice of God within, Answer me, through life's restless din, And the voice answer'd-"Be thou still! Clouds, winds, and stars their part fulfil, KÖRNER AND HIS SISTER. ["Charles Theodore Körner, the celebrated young German poet and soldier, was killed in a skirmish with a detachment of French troops, on the 20th of August 1813, a few hours after the composition of his popular piece, The Sword Song. He was buried at the village of Wöbbelin in Mecklenburg, under a beautiful oak, in a recess of which he had frequently deposited verses composed by him while campaigning in its vicinity. The monument erected to his memory is of cast iron; and the upper part is wrought into a lyre and sword, a favourite emblem of Körner's, from which one of his works had been entitled. Near the grave of the poet is that of his only sister, who died of grief for his loss, having only survived him long enough to complete his portrait and a drawing of his burial-place. Over the gate of the cemetery is engraved one of his own lines: "Vergiss die treuen Tödten nicht." -See Richardson's Translation of Körner's Life and GREEN wave the oak for ever o'er thy rest, Thou that beneath its crowning foliage sleepest, And, in the stillness of thy country's breast, Thy place of memory as an altar keepest ; Brightly thy spirit o'er her hills was pour'd, Thou of the Lyre and Sword! Rest, bard! rest, soldier!-by the father's hand In the hush'd presence of the glorious dead. The oak waved proudly o'er thy burial rite, On thy crown'd bier to slumber warriors bore thee, And with true hearts thy brethren of the fight Wept as they veil'd their drooping banners o'er thee; And the deep guns with rolling peal gave token, That Lyre and Sword were broken. Thou hast a hero's tomb :-a lowlier bed Is hers, the gentle girl beside thee lying— The gentle girl, that bow'd her fair young head When thou wert gone, in silent sorrow dying. Brother, true friend! the tender and the brave— She pined to share thy grave. Fame was thy gift from others;—but for her, Thou hast thine oak, thy trophy:-What hath she? It was thy spirit, brother, which had made Woe, yet not long!—She linger'd but to trace But smile upon her, ere she went to rest. The earth grew silent when thy voice departed, Have ye not met ere now?-so let those trust * The following lines, recently addressed to the author of the above, by the venerable father of Körner, who, with THE DEATH-DAY OF KÖRNER.* A SONG for the death-day of the brave— The youth went down to a hero's grave, He went, with his noble heart unworn, An eagle stooping from clouds of morn, He went with the lyre, whose lofty tone Had thrill'd to the name of his God alone, And his father-land. the mother, still survives the "Lyre, Sword, and Flower," here commemorated, may not be uninteresting to the German reader. Wohllaut tönt aus der Ferne von freundlichen Lüften getragen, Heil dem Brittischen Volke, wenn ihm das Deutsche nicht fremd ist! Theodor Körner's Vater. * On reading part of a letter from Körner's father, addressed to Mr Richardson, the translator of his works, in which he speaks of "The Death-day of his son." + See The Sword Song, composed on the morning of his death. |