[136] YOU BOLDLY CEASED TO LOVE
You boldly ceased to love the God of yore ·
Now he appears with dark revengeful brow:
»You who called servitude my precious lore
And left my house too proud to make the bow ·
Are you not bent by a more shameful yoke
Do you not feel your wrung arm's force decay
More than by this sonorous chain you broke?
Must you not cry for pity · watch and pray?«
Yea! as I neared the Saviour's bloody feet
l now exalt a new God whom I greet
With quivering lips · and equal extasies
Consume me and less sober sympathies
When last light of the holy evening wanes
In my cathedral's gold and purple panes.
Englische Fassung des Gedichts Teppich S. 71 [137]