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The Last Unicorn
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain,
And the Last lion roars at the last dusty fountain,
In the shadow of the forest, though she may be old and worn,
They will stare, unbelieving, at the Last Unicorn.
When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing,
And you look to the north and the pale moon is rising,
And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn
In the distance, hear the laughter of the Last Unicorn,
I'm alive...I'm alive..
When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning,
And the future has past without even a last desperate warning,
Then look into the sky where through the clouds a path is formed
Look and see her, how she sparkles, it's the Last Unicorn,
I'm alive...I'm alive..
German Folk Song
The nightingale among them
Sang sweet and loud and long,
Until a greater voice than hers
Rang out above her song.
For suddenly, among the crags,
Along the narrow vale,
The echoes of a hunting horn
Came clear upon the gale.
The hunter stood beside me
Who blew that mighty horn
I saw that he was hunting
The gentle unicorn --
The Unicorn is noble;
He knows his gentle birth,
He knows that God has chosen him
Above all beasts of earth.
The Unicorn is noble;
He keeps him safe and high
Upon a narrow path and steep
Climbing to the sky.
And there no man can take him,
He scorns the hunter's dart.
And only a virgin's magic power
Shall tame his haughty heart.
What would be now the state of us
But for this Unicorn,
And what would be the fate of us,
Poor sinners, lost, forlorn?
Oh, may He lead us on and up,
Unworthy though we be,
Into His Father's kingdom,
To dwell eternally.
Song of Alexander
by Pfaffen Lamprecht - 12th c. (exerpt)
I had from this most wealthy queen
A beast of proud and noble mien
That bears in his brow the ruby-stone
And yields himself to maids alone.
But few such unicorns are found
On this or any other ground,
And only such are ever captured
As pure virgins have enraptured.
No man yet of woman born
Endures the terror of his horn.
Parzifal
by Wolfram von Eschenbach (exerpt)
We caught the beast called Unicorn
That knows and loves a maiden best
And falls asleep upon her breast;
We took from underneath his horn
The splendid male carbuncle stone
Sparkling against the white skull bone.
Buddhist Hymn
(exerpt)
The deer untethered roams the wild
Where it wishes in search of food.
Seeing this liberty, wise man,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn.
Free everywhere and at odds with none
Content with what comes your way
Enduring peril without alarm,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn
Like a lion fearless of the howling pack
Like the breeze ne'er trapped in a snare
Like the lotus unsoiled by its stagnant pool,
Fare solit'ry as the Unicorn.
Confucius
(6th c.)
'In the age of Tang and Yu, the Unicorn and
the Pheonix walked abroad.
Now when it is not their time they come
And what do they seek?
The Unicorn, the Unicorn, my heart is sad.'
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