Contribute a translation | Source (English) |
---|---|
|
A Vision
|
|
Strange thoughts, and stranger visions rose
Before my mind’s delighted eye, Which to the poet’s soul disclose Such worlds of truth and witchery. |
|
In silence, both by night and day,
With wisdom burning on my tongue, I breathed the words I could not say, On which my soul enraptured hung. |
|
I uttered in soft tones and low,
The inspirations of my mind, And beauteous verse, like music’s flow, Melodious, vague, and undefined. |
|
I saw my God, the Blessed One,
Unfold the dreams which we call Life, A fragile web of shadows spun, Woven with sorrow and with strife. |
|
I saw the cause of every grief,
Which God will show to all one day, When sadness, like an autumn leaf, Will, like that leaf, be swept away; |
|
So that in voices mild and clear,
We shall acknowledge He was just, And wonder at the darkness here Obscuring Hope, and Faith, and Trust. |
|
The Prophet King in vain poured forth
The tender breathings of his heart; To beings icebound as the north, His spirit he could ne’er impart. |
|
In vain his warm, ecstatic lyre
Its trembling chords of love awoke; Few souls could breathe that living fire, Few hearts to whose those echoes spoke. |
|
And wisdom’s page is thus passed o’er,
And scanned by most unlearned eyes, Who see not in prophetic lore The road that leads beyond the skies |
|
‘Tis not the written word alone,
Sublime, yet simple as a child, This is sweet nature’s under tone, In which she gives her lessons mild; |
|
But Genius from her lofty ear
Beholds in Scripture’s hidden charms A soul, a beauteous soul afar, And clasps the spirit in her arms. |
|
Spirit of Scripture! how divine
Thou shinest with thy golden wings, Flitting around this soul of mine, Revealing most mysterious things. |
|
I list to thee, I hear thy voice
In sweet, and most pathetic numbers, Making my inmost heart rejoice Awhile mine eyes are closed in slumbers. |
|
Spirit of Beauty! then didst thou
Descend and bless my mental sight; Methinks I see thee even now In mid-air floating on the night; In dream-like loveliness didst glide, A vision clad in robes so fair, Thine arms extended from thy side, As if to cleave the ambient air. |
|
Sweet spirit of the earth and skies!
I see thy form in ether move; Like light in darkness thou dost rise, Emblem of light! thy name is Love. |
The poem, “A Vision” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was written November 1850 and first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate 9:1, Nissan 5611/April 1851, p.31-33. I have added lines separating this poem into stanzas. –Aharon Varady
Source
Download A-Vision-by-Rosa-Emma-Salaman-from-The-Occident-April-1851.pdf (PDF, 2MB)

“A Vision, a poem by Rosa Emma Salaman (1850)” is shared by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
PDF (or Print) |
Comments, Corrections, and Queries