Hölderlin expresses this same longing in a beautiful symbol, the individual traits of which are already familiar to us:
". . . But soon in a fresh radiance
Mysteriously
Blossoming in golden smoke,
With the rapidly growing steps of the sun,
Making a thousand summits fragrant,
Asia arose!
And, dazzled,
I sought one whom I knew;
For unfamiliar to me were the broad roads,
Where from Tmolus
Comes the gilded Pactol,
And Taurus stands and Messagis—
And the gardens are full of flowers.
But high up in the light
The silvery snow gleams, a silent fire;
And, as a symbol of eternal life,
On the impassable walls,
Grows the ancient ivy.[10]
And carried by columns of living cedars and laurels
Are the solemn, divinely built palaces."
The symbol is apocalyptic, the maternal city in the land of eternal youth, surrounded by the verdure and flowers of imperishable spring.[11] The poet identifies himself here with John, who lived on Patmos, who was once associated with "the sun of the Highest," and saw him face to face:
"There at the Mystery of the Vine they met,
There at the hour of the Holy Feast they gathered,
And—feeling the approach of Death in his great, quiet soul,
