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LETTERS OF A JAVANESE PRINCESS
well, she could make no resistance because she would be wholly defenceless.
Now for the first time we understand what De Genestet [1] means in his Terugblik:
What we wish and will and strive for
We pray high powers to grant.
For free man, you do not make yourself, and your own life
The eagle's flight is always fast enclosed,
The Almighty bends our will, our strength,
As the wind bends the wheat.
Still lay the groimd out.
Plan your castles,
Mark the way you wish to travel.
The earth is wide and beautiful,
Choose your fate and seek your way,
By your own light.
God watches all the while.
And guides your foot-steps unaware.
And the same poet has given us much comfort in dark, difficult days.
- ↑ Peter Augustus De Genestet, noted poet. Born at Amsterdam in 1829 and died at the age of thirty-one.
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