Page:Works of Heinrich Heine 01.djvu/383

JULIA. 367 have crossed the Alps, and find ourselves in that fair garden called Italia : " Know'st thou the country where the lemon blows, And in dark leaves the golden orange glows 1 " It is sunny Verona which Shakespeare has chosen for the stage of the great deeds of love which he has glorified in Romeo and Julia. Yes, it is not this loving pair, but Love himself, who takes the leading part in this drama. Here we see love rising in youthful daring, defying all opposing circumstance, and all conquering. For he fears not in the great battle to take refuge with his most terrible, yet truest ally, Death. Love hand in hand with death is invincible. Love! It is the highest and most victorious of all passions. But its world-subduing strength lies in its illimi- table grandeur of soul, its almost supernatural unselfishness, in its unsacrificing scorn of life. There is for it no yesterday, and it thinks of no to-morrow. It asks only for to-day, but asks for it all in full and free from care untroubled, un- diminished. It will save nothing up for future time, and scorns the warmed-up leavings of the past. " Night be before me and the night behind." It is a wandering flame between two darknesses. Whence came it ? From an infinitely petty spark. How will it end ? Without a trace, and unin- telligibly. The wilder it burns the sooner it ia