Shapes of Clay Part 41

Cried Allen Forman: "Doctor, pray Compose my spirits' strife: O what may be my chances, say, Of living all my life?

"For lately I have dreamed of high And hempen dissolution!

O doctor, doctor, how can I Amend my const.i.tution?"

The learned leech replied: "You're young And beautiful and strong-- Permit me to inspect your tongue: H'm, ah, ahem!--'tis long."

FALLEN.

O, hadst thou died when thou wert great, When at thy feet a nation knelt To sob the grat.i.tude it felt And thank the Saviour of the State, G.o.ds might have envied thee thy fate!

Then was the laurel round thy brow, And friend and foe spoke praise of thee, While all our hearts sang victory.

Alas! thou art too base to bow To hide the shame that brands it now.

DIES IRAE.

A recent republication of the late Gen. John A. Dix's disappointing translation of this famous medieval hymn, together with some researches into its history which I happened to be making at the time, induces me to undertake a translation myself. It may seem presumption in me to attempt that which so many eminent scholars of so many generations have attempted before me; but the conspicuous failure of others encourages me to hope that success, being still unachieved, is still achievable. The fault of previous translations, from Lord Macaulay's to that of Gen.

Dix, has been, I venture to think, a too strict literalness, whereby the delicate irony and subtle humor of the immortal poem--though doubtless these admirable qualities were well appreciated by the translators--have been utterly sacrificed in the result. In none of the English versions that I have examined is more than a trace of the mocking spirit of insincerity pervading the whole prayer,--the cool effrontery of the suppliant in enumerating his demerits, his serenely illogical demands of salvation in spite, or rather because, of them, his meek submission to the punishment of others, and the many similarly pleasing characteristics of this amusing work, being most imperfectly conveyed.

By permitting myself a reasonable freedom of rendering--in many cases boldly supplying that "missing link" between the sublime and the ridiculous which the author, writing for the acute monkish apprehension of the 13th century, did not deem it necessary to insert--I have hoped at least partially to liberate the lurking devil of humor from his fetters, letting him caper, not, certainly, as he does in the Latin, but as he probably would have done had his creator written in English. In preserving the metre and double rhymes of the original, I have acted from the same reverent regard for the music with which, in the liturgy of the Church, the verses have become inseparably wedded that inspired Gen. Dix; seeking rather to surmount the obstacles to success by honest effort, than to avoid them by the adoption of an easier versification which would have deprived my version of all utility in religious service.

I must bespeak the reader's charitable consideration in respect of the first stanza, the insuperable difficulties of which seem to have been purposely contrived in order to warn off trespa.s.sers at the very boundary of the alluring domain. I have got over the inhibition--somehow--but David and the Sibyl must try to forgive me if they find themselves represented merely by the names of those conspicuous personal qualities to which they probably owed, respectively, their powers of prophecy, as Samson's strength lay in his hair.

DIES IRAE.

Dies irae! dies ilia!

Solvet saeclum in favilla Teste David c.u.m Sibylla.

Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando Judex est venturus.

Cuncta stricte discussurus.

Tuba mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionem, Coget omnes ante thronum.

Mors stupebit, et Natura, Quum resurget creatura Judicanti responsura.

Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus judicetur.

Judex ergo quum sedebit, Quicquid latet apparebit, Nil inultum remanebit.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, Quem patronem rogaturus, Quum vix justus sit securus?

Rex tremendae majestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis; Salva me, Fons pietatis

Recordare, Jesu pie Quod sum causa tuae viae; Ne me perdas illa die.

Quarens me sedisti la.s.sus Redimisti crucem pa.s.sus, Tantus labor non sit ca.s.sus.

Juste Judex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis.

Ingemisco tanquam reus, Culpa rubet vultus meus; Supplicanti parce, Deus.

Qui Mariam absolvisti Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti.

Preces meae non sunt dignae, Sed tu bonus fac benigne Ne perenni cremer igne.

Inter oves loc.u.m praesta.

Et ab haedis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra.

Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis, Voca me c.u.m benedictis.

Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis; Gere curam mei finis.

Lacrymosa dies illa Qua resurgent et favilla, Judicandus h.o.m.o reus Huic ergo parce, Deus!

THE DAY OF WRATH.

Day of Satan's painful duty!

Earth shall vanish, hot and sooty; So says Virtue, so says Beauty.

Ah! what terror shall be shaping When the Judge the truth's undraping!

Cats from every bag escaping!

Now the trumpet's invocation Calls the dead to condemnation; All receive an invitation.

Death and Nature now are quaking, And the late lamented, waking, In their breezy shrouds are shaking.

Lo! the Ledger's leaves are stirring, And the Clerk, to them referring, Makes it awkward for the erring.

When the Judge appears in session, We shall all attend confession, Loudly preaching non-suppression.

How shall I then make romances Mitigating circ.u.mstances?

Even the just must take their chances.

King whose majesty amazes.

Save thou him who sings thy praises; Fountain, quench my private blazes.

Pray remember, sacred Savior, Mine the playful hand that gave your Death-blow. Pardon such behavior.

Seeking me fatigue a.s.sailed thee, Calvary's outlook naught availed thee: Now 't were cruel if I failed thee.