O dearest Lord - Thomas Kingo

O dearest Lord, receive from me
The heartfelt thanks I offer Thee,
Who through Thy body and Thy blood
Hast wrought my soul’s eternal good.

And then I sat me down - Gustaf Rosenhane

And then I sat me down, and gave the rein
To my wild thoughts, till many a song that rang
From boughs around where hidden warblers sang
Recalled me from myself; then “Oh! in vain,”
I said, “do these outpour the tender strain?

Vondel's Lucifer (Act III, lines 1-120) - Joost van den Vondel

Luciferians. Chorus of Angels
Luciferians:
How oft belief proves but delusive hope!
Alas! how things have changed. We deemed no rank
Than ours more happy in this rising Realm,—
Yea, thought our state even like unto God's own,
More blessed than Earth and e'er unchangeable.—

Morning song - Thomas Kingo

From eastern quarters now
     The sun's up-wandering. 
His rays on the rock's brow
     And hill's side squandering; 
Be glad, my soul! and sing amidst thy pleasure,
     Fly from the house of dust,
     Up with thy thanks, and trust 
To heaven's azure!

Go out, my heart, and seek delight - Paulus Gerhardt

Go out, my heart, and seek delight,
In this dear summer time so bright,
In God’s abundance daily;
The beauty of these gardens see,
And look, how they for me and thee
Have decked themselves so gaily.

The trees with spreading leaves are blessed,
The earth her dusty rind has dressed
In green so young and tender.
Narcissus and the tulip fair
Are clothed in raiment far more rare
Than Solomon, in splendour.

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 493-538) - Joost van den Vondel

Chorus of Angels:
Strophe.
How glares the noble front of Heaven!
Why streams the holy light so red
Upon our face, overspread
With mournful mists from darkness driven?

Past Joys - Rodriguez Lobo

Dear Tagus, what immeasurable space
Our present from our former lot divides!
Glassy of yore, now turbid are thy tides,
Once smiles my brow adorned, now tears deface.

The Hymn of Glory - Judah He-Hasid

Sweet hymns shall be my chant and woven songs,
For Thou art all for which my spirit longs—
To be within the shadow of Thy hand
And all Thy mystery to understand.

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 414-492) - Joost van den Vondel

Belial:

God's Stadtholder doth serve himself with us

On high.

Apollion:

               We fly together from his bow

Like speeding arrows.

Copenhagen Watchman's Song - Thomas Kingo

Eight o'clock

When darkness blinds the Earth,

And the day declines,

That time then us reminds 

Of death’s dark grave;

Shine on us, Jesus sweet,

At every step To the grave place,

And grant a blissful death.

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity - John Milton

This is the month, and this the happy morn, 

Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King, 

Of wedded maid and virgin mother born, 

The bliss of Heaven - Anonymous

The bliss of Heaven,

I will worship you a thousandfold,

Revered fruit of a mature tree,

Long awaited by your people,

Protection of spiritual strength,

Heed my call.

Deep in a Vale - Gustaf Rosenhane

Deep in a vale where rocks on every side

Shut out the winds, and scarcely let the sun

Between them dart his rays down one by one,

Where all was still and cool in summer-tide,

And softly, with her whispering waves that sighed,

A little river, that had scarce begun

A Masnavī Satirizing a Barber - Ghanī Kashmīrī

1. My every hair’s a tongue standing to order.

In verse I now describe a certain barber.

Cupid Lost - Jakob Cats

The child of Venus, wanton, wild. 

The sliest rogue that ever smiled, 

Has lately strayed — where, who shall guess? 

His mother pines in sad distress; 

She calls the boy, she sighs, complains. 

But still no news of Cupid gains; 

For, though her sorrow grows apace. 

None knows the urchin's resting-place. 

She therefore vows the boy shall be 

Cried o'er the country publicly: 

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 277-413) - Joost van den Vondel

Belzebub:

The Stadtholder now hears the meaning of

This proclamation grave so proudly blown

By Gabriel's trumpet bold. How well he showed

Thee God's design! whose purpose thou may'st scent:

Thus shall he clip the wings of thy great power.

Lucifer:

But not so easily: Ah! nay, forsooth;

I shall have care this purpose to prevent.

Let not a power inferior thus dream

To rule the Powers above.

Belzebub:

He maketh threat

Forthwith to crush Rebellion's head and crown.

Lucifer:

Now swear I by my crown, upon this chance

To venture all, to raise my seat amid

The firmament, the spheres, the splendor of

The stars above. The Heaven of Heavens shall then

My palace be, the rainbow be my throne,

The starry vast, my court, while, down beneath,

The Earth shall be my footstool and support.

I shall, then swiftly drawn through air and light,

High-seated on a chariot of cloud,

With lightning stroke and thunder grind to dust

Whate'er above, around, below, doth us

Oppose, were it God's Marshal grand himself.

Yea, e'er we yield, these empyrean vaults.

Proud in their towering masonry, shall burst

With all their airy arches and dissolve

Before our eyes: this huge and joint-racked Earth,

Like a misshapen monster, lifeless lie;

This wondrous universe to chaos fall.

And to its primal desolation change.

Who dares, who dares defy great Lucifer?

We cite Apollion.

Belzebub:

He is at hand.

Apollion:

O Stadtholder of God's unbounded Realm,

And Oracle within the Council of

The Gods subordinate, I offer thee

My service and await thy new commands.310

What now the word—what of thy subject would

Thy Majesty?

Lucifer:

It pleaseth us to hear

Thy sense and thy opinion of a grave

And weighty plan that cannot fail to win.

Tis our intent to pluck the proudest plume

From Michael's wings, that our attempt upon

His mightiness shall not rebound as vain.

With his own arm as many oracles

He founds, as ever God Himself hath hewn

From deathless diamond with His hand. Behold320

Now man exalted to the Heaven of Heavens,

Through all the circles of the spheres, then see

The Spirit world, so deep, so far below,

Even 'neath his footcloth there, like feeble worms

Already crawling in the dust. I joy

To storm this throne with violence, and thus

To hazard by one strong, opposing stroke

The glory of my state and star and crown.

Apollion:

An undertaking truly to be praised!

May it augment your crown and increase gain,330

Based on such resolution: so I deem

It honors me thus to advise, 'neath thee,

The prosecution of a cause so bold.

Let this result for better or for worse,

The will is noble, even though it fail.

But lest we strive in vain and recklessly,

How best shall we begin so bold a plan?

How safest meet the point of that resolve?

Lucifer:

We subtly shall oppose our own resolve.

Apollion:

Sooth, there is pith in that. But what, pray, is340

Our borrowed might, weighed in the scale against

The Power Omnipotent? Guard well thy crown;

For we fall far too light.

Belzebub:

Yet not so light,

But that the matter first shall hang in doubt.

Apollion:

By whom or how or where this plot begun?

Even such intent is treason 'gainst God's Throne.

Lucifer:

His Throne we'll not disturb; but cautiously

Mount up the steep incline, and those high peaks,

Ne'er blazed by path and ne'er ascended, climb.

Courage and prudence must, at length, o'ercome350

And dare all dangers brave.

Apollion:

But not the Power

Omnipotent, nor yet His crown: approach

Thou not too near, or learn in sorrow that

Repentance comes too late. The lesser should

Submissively unto the greater yield.

Lucifer:

The great Omnipotent is far beyond

Our aim. Set forces like with like together.

Then learn whose sword is weightiest. I see

Our enemies in flight, the Heavens all ours

By one courageous stroke; our legions, too,360

O'erladen with the spoil and glorious plunder.

Then let us further now deliberate.

Apollion.

Thou know'st what Michael, God's Field-marshal may:

'Neath his command are all God's legions placed.

He bears the key of the armoury here on high.

To him the watch is trusted, and he keeps

A faithful, sleepless eye on all the camps;

So that of all the galaxies of Heaven

Not even one star, in its celestial march,

Dare move itself the least, nor stir without

Its ranks. 'Tis easy to commence; but in

Such warfare to engage exceeds our might,

And drags a train of hardships in its wake.

"What ordnance and what martial enginery

Could e'er avail his legions proud to quell?

Should Heaven's castle ope its diamond port,

Nor stratagem, nor ambush, nor assault

Could bring it fear.

Belzebub:

But if our bold resolve

We strengthen with the sword, I see upon

Our standard, raised aloft, the morning-star

Defiance flashing till all Heaven's state

And rulership is changed.

Apollion:

The Fieldmarshal,

The valiant Michael, bears with no less fire

And pride God's wondrous name amid the field

Of his great banner, with the sun above.

Lucifer:

Though writ in lines of light, what boots a name?

Heroic deeds, as this, are ne'er achieved

With titles, nor with pomp; not by valor, spirit.

And subtle strokes in skill and cunning bred.

Thou art a master-wit with craftiness

The Spirits to seduce, them to ensnare,

To lead and to incite howe'er thou wilt.

Thou canst attaint even those among the watch

Of most integrity, and teach even those

To waver who had thought to waver never.

Begin, we see God's legions in two camps

Divided, lords and vassals roused to strife

And mutiny. The greatest part even now

Are blind and deaf, save to their own demands;

And one and all cry loudly for a chief.

If thou for us a fourth part canst allure,

"We'll crown thy craft and dexterous management

With place and honor. Go, this plot consider

With Belial, for it must be dark indeed,

Where he shall lose his way. His countenance,

Smooth-varnished with dissimulation's hue,

No master in such deep concealment owns.

My car I now ascend: think ye this over.

The Council hath convened, and now awaits

Our own attendance. We shall call you both

Within, as soon as ye shall come. And thou,

Chief Lord, guard with thy trusty followers

This mighty gate that to the palace leads.

---

Joost van den Vondel (1587 – 1679) The Netherlands

Translated by Charles Leonard van Noppen

Act II, lines 277-413

Source: Project Gutenberg: J. van Vondel's Lucifer A tragedy 1654

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The Lord is an ocean of oneness - Sultan Bahu

The Lord is an ocean of oneness

in which lovers swim as they please, free of care.

To Amoret. The sigh - Henry Vaughan

Nimble sigh, on thy warm wings,

    Take this message and depart ;

Tell Amoret, that smiles and sings,

At what thy airy voyage brings,

    That thou cam'st lately from my heart.

Sonnet 148 - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Celia saw a rose which in happy self-praise

flaunted its pomp and vanity in the field,

cosmetics of carmine and cochineal

merrily smeared over its delicate face;

 

Moral reflections (Sonnet XXI) - Vincenzo da Filicaja

Hebe once wild streams of false delight their source 

Betray'd, this feeble heart inundating; 

Turbid with eddies which vain passions bring; 

Sense their dark fount; my breast their barren course.