The Knights Of St. John

________________________________________________
Title:     The Knights Of St. John
Author: Frederich Schiller [More Titles by Schiller]

Oh, nobly shone the fearful cross upon your mail afar,
When Rhodes and Acre hailed your might, O lions of the war!
When leading many a pilgrim horde, through wastes of Syrian gloom;
Or standing with the cherub's sword before the holy tomb.
Yet on your forms the apron seemed a nobler armor far,
When by the sick man's bed ye stood, O lions of the war!
When ye, the high-born, bowed your pride to tend the lowly weakness,
The duty, though it brought no fame, fulfilled by Christian meekness--
Religion of the cross, thou blend'st, as in a single flower,
The twofold branches of the palm--humility and power. [1]

 

FOOTNOTE:
[1] The epithet in the first edition is ruhmlose.

[The end]
Frederich Schiller's poem: Knights Of St. John

________________________________________________



GO TO TOP OF SCREEN