Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LUDWIG OF BAVARIA, by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LUDWIG OF BAVARIA, by                    
First Line: I have been set so high above mankind
Last Line: Darker . . . And darker still. . . .
Subject(s): Ludwig Ii, King Of Bavaria (1845-1886)


I HAVE been set so high above mankind
That all alone am I.
Above me broods, ruthlessly dumb and blind,
The riddle of the sky --
The casket of the Undiscovered Light
Whose vision makes divine,
Hidden from lesser men's ignoble sight
But destined to be mine.
For I have risen to the final snow
In solitude complete,
And trodden all men live and die to know
Under my mounting feet.
Alone, alone I seek with soul afire
The sacrament supreme.
What anodyne has earth for my desire
Who famish for a dream?
Music is mine, and solitary splendour,
White, sky-encroaching peaks --
But oh, the call intolerably tender
From lips no mortal seeks,
In lands the boldest wanderer never charted,
Whose pinnacles of stone
Inviolate, whose valleys virgin-hearted
Open to me alone!
But I am weary, for the time is long;
Why does the dawn delay?
Weary of even lightning-leaps of song,
Weary of night and day,
For voices call me, call me from my sleep
So that I rest no more,
Like ripples from an undiscovered deep
Upon a lonely shore.
Bloom speedily for me, Immortal Rose,
My being to fulfil!
Haste -- for the silent skies above me close
Darker . . . and darker still. . . .





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