With this poem by Swiss poet Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, I bid you farewell for a time. I’ll be back in February or so. Till then, my very best wishes to you at the turning of the year.
Peace on Earth
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer
Translated from the German by Lory Widmer Hess
When the shepherds left their berth
And the word of Angels holy
Carried through the portal lowly
To the mother and the child,
Back the heavenly servants filed,
In the starry spaces singing
Till the heavens forth were ringing:
“Peace, oh, Peace! Upon the Earth!”
Since the Angels’ high hallooing
O how many bloody doings
Have wild horses, held by girth
And harness, borne with fearful power!
In how many a holy hour
Sang the spirit choir unsurely,
Pressing, praying, pleading obscurely:
“Peace, oh, Peace … upon the Earth!”
Yet we hold this faith unending:
That those robbers now offending
Weaker souls who suffer dearth
Shall not evermore prevail;
Justice shall not forever fail,
It weaves, it works, through death and terror.
A new empire will rise, the bearer
Of true peace upon the earth.
Gradually its strength is growing,
A sacred order slowly showing,
Forging weapons of peaceful worth,
Swords of flame held by the just,
And a royal lineage must
Blossom forth with strong descendants,
Whose bright trumpets blare their message:
Peace, oh, peace upon the Earth!
Beautiful poem and painting. Merry Christmas.
As Silvia says, a beautiful poem, and beautifully translated – I don’t know how you’ve managed to create from the original German such a tightly wrought gem with demanding rhymes in unforced naturally flowing language, but I’m in awe. Hope you and yours have a lovely break – without letting up on the page count, of course!
What a lovely translation of this poem! Enjoy your blogging break.