Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Page 260
Boys, ere soul or sense could waken,
Ye were born at midnight hour;
From your parents straightway taken,
For the angels a sweet dower.
You a loving one embraces,
This ye feel: then hither fare!
But of earth’s rude paths no traces,
Blessed ones, your spirits bear.
In the organ now descending
Of my worldly, earth-born, eyes;
Use them, thus thy need befriending —
View the sphere that round you lies:
[He takes them into himself.
There are trees; there rocks upsoaring;
Headlong there the flood doth leap;
Cleaves the torrent, loudly roaring,
Shorter passage to the deep.
Blessed Boys.
(From within.) Grand the scene, but fear awaking: —
Desolate the spot and drear,
Us with dread and horror shaking.
Hold us not, kind father, here!
Pater Seraphicus.
Rise to higher spheres, and higher!
Unobserv’d your growth, yet sure,
As God’s presence doth inspire
Strength, by laws eternal, pure.
This the spirit’s nurture, stealing
Through the ether’s depths profound:
Love eternal, self-revealing,
Sheds beatitude around.
Chorus of Blessed Boys.
(Circling round the highest summit.)
Through ether winging,
Hands now entwine,
Joyfully singing
With feelings divine!
Taught by the Deity,
Trust in His grace;
Whom ye adore shall ye
See face to face!
Angels.
(Hovering in the higher atmosphere, bearing the immortal part of Faust.)
Sav’d is this noble soul from ill,
Our spirit-peer. Who ever
Strives forward with unswerving will, —
Him can we aye deliver;
And if with him celestial love
Hath taken part, — to meet him
Come down the angels from above;
With cordial hail they greet him.
The Younger Angels.
Roses, from fair hands descending,
Holy, penitent and pure,
Our high mission gladly ending,
Help’d our conquest to secure,
Making ours this spirit-treasure.
Demons shrank, in sore displeasure,
Devils fled, as we assail’d them,
Hell’s accustom’d torture fail’d them,
They by pangs of love were riven;
The old Satan-master even,
Pierced was by sharp annoyance.
Conquer’d have we! shout with joyance!
The More Perfect Angels.
Sad ’tis for us to bear
Spirit earth-encumber’d;
Though of asbest he were,
Yet is he number’d
Not with the pure. For where
Worketh strong spirit-force,
Elements blending,
No angel may divorce
Natures thus tending
Of twain to form but one;
Parts them God’s love, alone,
Their union ending.
The Younger Angels.
Mistlike, with movement rife,
Rock-summits veiling,
Near us a spirit-life
Upwards is sailing;
Now grow the vapors clear;
Yonder bless’d boys appear,
In chorus blending;
They from earth’s pressure free
Circle united:
Still upward tending,
In the new spring with glee
Bathe they delighted:
Here let him then begin,
Yet fuller life to win,
With these united.
Blessed Boys.
Him as a chrysalis
Joyful receive we:
Pledge of angelic bliss
In him achieve we.
Loosen the flakes of earth
That still enfold him!
Great through the heavenly birth,
And fair, now behold him.
Doctor Marianus.
(In the highest, purest cell.)
Here is the prospect free,
The soul subliming.
Yonder fair forms I see,
Heavenward they’re climbing;
In starry wreath is seen,
Lofty and tender,
Midmost the heavenly Queen,
Known by her splendor.
[Enraptured.
In thy tent of azure hue,
Queen supremely reigning,
Let me now thy secret view,
Vision high obtaining!
With the holy joy of love,
In man’s breast, whatever
Lifts the soul to thee above,
Kind one, foster ever!
All invincible we feel,
If our arm thou claimest;
Suddenly assuag’d our zeal
If our breast thou tamest.
Virgin, pure from taint of earth,
Mother, we adore thee,
With the Godhead one by birth,
Queen, we bow before thee!
Cloudlets are pressing
Gently around her;
Her knee caressing
Cloudlets surround her; —
Penitents are they;
Ether inhaling,
Their sins bewailing.
Passionless and pure, from thee
Hath it not been taken,
That poor frail ones may to thee
Come, with trust unshaken.
In their weakness snatch’d away,
Hard it is to save them;
By their own strength rend who may
Fetters that enslave them!
Glide on slippery ground the feet
Swiftly downward sailing!
Whom befool not glances sweet,
Flattery’s breath inhaling!
[Mater Gloriosasoars forward.
Chorus of Female Penitents.
To realms eternal
Upward art soaring;
Peerless, supernal,
Hear our imploring,
Thy grace adoring.
[St. Luke vii. 36.
Magna Peccatrix.
By the love, warm tears outpouring,
Laving as with balsam sweet,
Pharisaic sneers ignoring,
Of thy godlike Son the feet;
By the vase, rich odor breathing,
Lavishing its costly store;
By the locks, that gently wreathing,
Dried his holy feet once more —
Mulier Samaritana.
(St. John iv.)
By the well, whereto were driven
Abram’s flocks in ancient days;
By the cooling draught thence given,
Which the Saviour’s thirst allays;
By the fountain, still outsending
Thence its waters, far and wide,
Overflowing, never-ending,
Through all worlds it pours its tide —
Maria Ægyptiaca.
(Acta Sanctorum.)
By the hallow’d grave, whose portal
Clos’d upon the Lord of yore;
By the arm, unseen by mortal,
Back which thrust me from the door;
By my penance, slowly fleeting,
Forty years amid the waste;
By the blessed farewell greeting,
Which upon the sand I trac’d —
The Three.
Thou, unto the greatly sinning,
Access who dost not deny,
By sincere repentance winning
Bliss throughout eternity,
So from this good soul, thy blessing,
Who but
once itself forgot,
Sin who knew not, while transgressing,
Gracious One, withhold thou not!
Una Pœnitentium.
(Formerly named Gretchen,pressing towards her.)
Incline, oh, incline,
All others excelling,
In glory aye dwelling,
Unto my bliss thy glance benign!
The lov’d one, ascending,
His long trouble ending,
Comes back, he is mine!
Blessed Boys.
(They approach, hovering in a circle.)
Mighty of limb, he towers
E’en now, above us;
He for this care of ours
Richly will love us.
Dying, ere we could reach
Earth’s pain or pleasure;
What he hath learn’d he’ll teach
In ample measure.
A Penitent.
(Formerly named Gretchen.)
Encircl’d by the choirs of heaven,
Scarcely himself the stranger knows;
Scarce feels the existence newly given,
So like the heavenly host he grows.
See, how he every band hath riven!
From earth’s old vesture freed at length,
Now cloth’d upon by garb of heaven,
Shines forth his pristine youthful strength,
To guide him, be it given to me;
Still dazzles him the new-born day.
Mater Gloriosa.
Ascend, thine influence feeleth he,
He’ll follow on thine upward way.
Doctor Marianus.
(Adoring, prostrate on his face.)
Penitents, her Saviour-glance
Gratefully beholding
To beatitude advance,
Still new powers unfolding!
Thine each better thought shall be,
To thy service given!
Holy Virgin, gracious be,
Mother, Queen of Heaven!
Chorus Mysticus.
All of mere transient date
As symbol showeth;
Here, the inadequate
To fulness groweth;
Here the ineffable
Wrought is in love;
The ever-womanly
Draws us above.
The Poetry
THE POEMS OF GOETHE
Translated by Edgar A. Bowring
Goethe’s poetic oeuvre had a great effect on nineteenth century literature. His poems are richly emotional, rigorously formal, epigrammatic and epic. Although he argued that classicism was the means of controlling art and that romanticism was a sickness, he at the same time wrote poetry steeped in Romatic idealism. His poetry was set to music by almost every major Austrian and German composer from Mozart to Mahler, and he influenced French drama and Italian opera and many other mediums of art.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Edgar A. Bowring (1826–1911) was a British translator, author and civil servant, who served as a librarian and registrar, as well as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Exeter. He translated various works of poetry from German into English, including the complete poems of Goethe. This was an incredible feat, as he rendered the poems into the same verse metre as used by Goethe in the originals.
The detailed contents table of the poems is available via this link.
Goethe by Georg Melchior Kraus, 1776
DEDICATION.
THE morn arriv’d; his footstep quickly scar’d
The gentle sleep that round my senses clung,
And I, awak’ning, from my cottage far’d,
And up the mountain’s side with light heart sprung;
At ev’ry step I felt my gaze ensnar’d
By new-born flow’rs that full of dewdrops hung;
The youthful day awoke with ecstasy,
And all things quicken’d were, to quicken me.
And as I mounted, from the valley rose
A streaky mist, that upward slowly spread,
Then bent, as though my form it would enclose,
Then, as on pinions, soar’d above my head:
My gaze could now on no fair view repose,
In mournful veil conceal’d, the world seem’d dead;
The clouds soon clos’d around me, as a tomb,
And I was left alone in twilight gloom.
At once the sun his lustre seem’d to pour,
And through the mist was seen a radiant light;
Here sank it gently to the ground once more,
There parted it, and climb’d o’er wood and height.
How did I yearn to greet him as of yore,
After the darkness waxing doubly bright!
The airy conflict ofttimes was renew’d,
Then blinded by a dazzling glow I stood.
Ere long an inward impulse prompted me
A hasty glance with boldness round to throw;
At first mine eyes had scarcely strength to see,
For all around appear’d to burn and glow.
Then saw I, on the clouds borne gracefully,
A godlike woman hov’ring to and fro.
In life I ne’er had seen a form so fair —
She gaz’d at me, and still she hover’d there.
“Dost thou not know me?” were the words she said
In tones where love and faith were sweetly bound;
“Knowest thou not Her who oftentimes hath shed
The purest balsam in each earthly wound?
Thou know’st me well; thy panting heart I led
To join me in a bond with rapture crown’d.
Did I not see thee, when a stripling, yearning
To welcome me with tears heartfelt and burning?”
“Yes!” I exclaim’d, whilst, overcome with joy,
I sank to earth: “I long have worshipp’d thee;
Thou gav’st me rest, when passions rack’d the boy.
Pervading ev’ry limb unceasingly;
Thy heav’nly pinions thou didst then employ
The scorching sunbeams to ward off from me.
From thee alone Earth’s fairest gifts I gain’d,
Through thee alone true bliss can be obtain’d.
“Thy name I know not; yet I hear thee nam’d
By many a one who boasts thee as his own;
Each eye believes that tow’rd thy form ’tis aim’d,
Yet to most eyes thy rays are anguish-sown.
Ah! whilst I err’d, full many a friend I claim’d,
Now that I know thee, I am left alone;
With but myself can I my rapture share,
I needs must veil and hide thy radiance fair.”
She smil’d, and answering said: “Thou seest how wise.
How prudent ’twas but little to unveil!
Scarce from the clumsiest cheat are clear’d thine eyes,
Scarce hast thou strength thy childish bars to scale,
When thou dost rank thee ‘mongst the deities,
And so man’s duties to perform would’st fail!
How dost thou differ from all other men?
Live with the world in peace, and know thee then!”
“Oh, pardon me!” I cried, “I meant it well;
Not vainly didst thou bless mine eyes with light;
For in my blood glad aspirations swell,
The value of thy gifts I know aright!
Those treasures in my breast for others dwell,
The buried pound no more I’ll hide from sight.
Why did I seek the road so anxiously,
If hidden from my brethren ‘twere to be?”
And as I answer’d, tow’rd me turn’d her face,
With kindly sympathy, that godlike one;
Within her eye full plainly could I trace
What I had fail’d in, and what rightly done.
She smil’d, and cur’d me with that smile’s sweet grace,
To new-born joys my spirit soar’d anon;
With inward co
nfidence I now could dare
To draw yet closer, and observe her there.
Through the light cloud she then stretch’d forth her hand,
As if to bid the streaky vapor fly:
At once it seem’d to yield to her command,
Contracted, and no mist then met mine eye.
My glance once more survey’d the smiling land,
Unclouded and serene appear’d the sky.
Nought but a veil of purest white she held,
And round her in a thousand folds it swell’d.
“I know thee, and I know thy wav’ring will,
I know the good that lives and glows in thee!” —
Thus spake she, and methinks I hear her still —
“The prize long destin’d, now receive from me;
That bless’d one will be safe from ev’ry ill,
Who takes this gift with soul of purity, —
The veil of Minstrelsy from Truth’s own hand,
Of sunlight and of morn’s sweet fragrance plann’d.
And when thou and thy friends at fierce noonday
Are parch’d with heat, straight cast it in the air!
Then Zephyr’s cooling breath will round you play,
Distilling balm and flowers’ sweet incense there;
The tones of earthly woe will die away,
The grave become a bed of clouds so fair,
To sing to rest life’s billows will be seen,
The day be lovely, and the night serene.” —
Come, then, my friends! and whensoe’er ye find
Upon your way increase life’s heavy load;
If by fresh-waken’d blessings flowers are twin’d
Around your path, and golden fruits bestow’d,
We’ll seek the coming day with joyous mind!
Thus bless’d, we’ll live, thus wander on our road,
And when our grandsons sorrow o’er our tomb,
Our love, to glad their bosoms, still shall bloom.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
Songs
Late resounds the early strain;
Weal and woe in song remain.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
SOUND, SWEET SONG.
SOUND, sweet song, from some far land,
Sighing softly close at hand,
Now of joy, and now of woe!
Stars are wont to glimmer so.
Sooner thus will good unfold;
Children young and children old
Gladly hear thy numbers flow.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
TO THE KIND READER.
NO one talks more than a Poet;
Fain he’d have the people know it,
Praise or blame he ever loves;
None in prose confess an error,