The Animating Principle.

If thou feelest not the beautiful, still thou with reason canst will it;
And as a spirit canst do, that which as man thou canst not.

Time flies on restless pinions constant never.
Be constant and thou chainest time forever.

Life she received from fable; the schools deprived her of being,
Life creative again she has from reason received.

Where the pathway begins, eternity seems to lie open,
Yet at the narrowest point even the wisest man stops.

How does the genius make itself known? In the way that in nature
Shows the Creator himself, e'en in the infinite whole.
Clear is the ether, and yet of depth that ne'er can be fathomed;
Seen by the eye, it remains evermore closed to the sense.

Many are good and wise; yet all for one only reckon,
For 'tis conception, alas, rules them, and not a fond heart.
Sad is the sway of conception, from thousandfold varying figures,
Needy and empty but one it is e'er able to bring.
But where creative beauty is ruling, there life and enjoyment
Dwell; to the ne'er-changing One, thousands of new forms she gives.