Harmonies out of the pain stirr’d by the God in my heart.
XX.
Written scrolls I possess which scholars and monarchs might covet.
For my beloved she writes words that I turn into verse!
XXI.
As in Winter the grain only slowly sprouts, but in Summer
Hastens to push into bloom, so was my yearning for thee!
XXII.
Ever it seem’d to me that forests, fields, mountains and gardens
Were but symbols of space; Love, thou makest them real.
XXIII.
Space and Time to my mind are idle phantoms of fancy;
But the corner with thee, dearest, seems without bounds.
XXIV.
Care, she sits in the saddle with thee; she embarks in the vessel.
Zealous is Care, but Love follows us up with more zeal.
XXV.
Hard is the conquest of Passion, but if she be strengthen’d by Custom,
Ancient ally and friend, she’s an invincible foe!
XXVI.
What is the scroll that twice and thrice I read in succession?
Manuscripts sent by my love, written warm from her heart.
XXVII.
She is my joy, but perchance she deceives me. O poets and singers,
Mimics! much ye might learn, knowing my sweetheart, my love!
XXVIII.
All the joy of the poet in shaping his verse to perfection,
Sympathizing Love, that inspir’d him, feels.
XXIX.
Think you an epigram short to express a sentiment for thee?
Why, Love, how can that be! Isn’t a kiss far more short?
XXX.
Know’st thou, O friend, the splendid poison of love unrequited?
Burning, it gives fresh strength; wasting the flesh it renews.
XXXI.
Know’st thou the splendid working of love that has found its ideal?
Bodies it binds in sweet union, spirits are freed.
XXXII.
True love is that which always and ever remains without changing
When it is granted all, all things being denied.
XXXIII.
All the world I would like, so all to share with my darling;
All the world would I give, if she were only mine.
XXXIV.
When a loving heart is pain’d and must suffer in silence,
Rhadamanthus himself could not imagine such pangs.
XXXV.
“Why do I fade so soon, O Zeus?” ask’d Beauty in sorrow.
“Ah,” said the father of gods, “only the beautiful fades.”
XXXVI.
Love and youth and the dew and the flowers heard the hard saying;
All turn’d their faces away, weeping, from Jupiter’s throne.
XXXVII.
Live while we may and love; for life and love are both fleeting.
Fate, thou cuttest the threads! Both must come to an end!
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AUTUMN.
XXXVIII.
LIFE brings fruits unto man! Yet rarely they hang from the branches,
Rosy and bright in the sun, greeting, like apples, the eye.
XXXIX.
Hold the staff of direction o’er life and all its transactions.
Leave unto Love and the Muse chance for jovial sport!
XL.
Preach, for it seemeth you well; we also honor the custom;
Yet will the Muse not allow orders peremptorily given.
XLI.
Seize the lighted torch from Prometheus, O Muse, and inspire us!
Seize it from Love, and torment us with ravishing joy.
XLII.
All creation is Nature’s work. From Zeus on Olympos
Flashes the wonderful bolt, building and crushing the world.
XLIII.
Brothers! do all that ye do with zeal and with love. Both are virtues
Lovely for German hearts, easily turn’d from the path.
XLIV.
Children toss the ball to the wall and catch it rebounding;
This is a game that I like play’d by the friend of my choice.
XLV.
Ever strive for the whole, and if the whole should escape thee,
Be, as thou canst, a part useful in forming the whole.
XLVI.
Knowledge of self is fine, yet when one is treasur’d by others,
Object of honor and love, is it not better by far?
XLVII.
What controls the youth, holds the man, embraces the graybeard,
That be thy portion of joy all thy life, lovely child.
XLVIII.
Willingly age clings to youth, and youth for age has affection;
Yet all over the world like is attracted by like.
XLIX.
Keep in thy heart the vision of worthies: bright constellations,
Nature scatter’d them forth, out of measureless space.
L.
Who is the luckiest man? ’Tis he who has wisdom to welcome
Service of others and feel joy like his own in his friend’s.
LI.
Time gives us much and robs us of much; but the love of thy betters,
Graciously bestowed, ever should be thy delight.
LII.
Were ye, foolish dreamers, able to grasp your ideals,
Honor to Nature ye’d pay as her merits deserve.
LIII.
Honest friend, I will tell thee what thou canst safely believe in:
Life is the only thing teaching better than books.
LIV.
Ev’ry blossom must fall before the fruit will rejoice us;
Blossoms and fruit at once only the Muses can give.
LV.
Truth that hurts I prefer to falsehood giving advantage.
Truth, it assuages the pain which perchance it has caus’d.
LVI.
Does an error hurt? Not always; but making the error
Always hurts, and how sore only the sequel can tell.
LVII.
Never so dear to us seem as our own the children of others;
Error, the child of our hearts, claims so much of our love.
LVIII.
Error is ever at hand. Yet a higher necessity draws us
Gently and steadily on, strive as we will, towards Truth.
LIX.
No one resembles another, yet each resembles the Highest.
How can this be explain’d? Each is complete in himself!
LX.
Why are Genius and Taste so seldom blended in union?
Genius hates the curb; Taste is timid at force.
LXI.
Helpless for moving the world are all the discourses of Reason;
Impotent also is she, crush’d in the presence of Art.
LXII.
Whom do I wish for a reader? He who is freest from bias,
Losing himself and the world, living alone in my book.
LXIII.
He is my dearest friend who walks with me as I struggle;
If he invite me to sit, forth I wander alone.
LXIV.
Ah, how it goes to my heart, that this most excellent spirit,
Bent on seeking the goal, uses me as a means.
LXV.
Praise the child for the toys on which it squanders its pennies
Recklessly! Truth, thou wilt be godlike to trader and child.
LXVI.
What is the method of Nature in joining the good and the evil,
Forming man? She thrusts vanity deftly between.
LXVII.
In susceptible people no good have I ever discover’d.
Give them only the chance, rascals they readily turn.
LXVIII.
Gallomania checks in this degenerate epoch
Peaceful culture
as once Lutheranism did.
LXIX.
Whatever in France is past the Germans take up and encourage;
For the proudest man flatters the rabble and crawls.
LXX.
“Darest thou call it the rabble? Where is the rabble?” The people,
Could ye get your own way, soon a rabble would be.
LXXI.
Wherever parties arise each holds itself this side and that side;
Many years will elapse ere their centres unite.
LXXII.
“Those men there are starting a party; what a ridiculous notion!
But our party indeed! That is a different thing!”
LXXIII.
Son, wilt thou always be free? then learn something useful, remaining
Quite content with thy lot, never aspiring too high.
LXXIV.
Who is the nobler man in ev’ry station? Whoever
Gives impartial advice, scorning advantage for self.
LXXV.
Know’st thou how even the small may be great? By doing their duty,
Small though it be; the great needs must do just the same.
LXXVI.
What is holy? ’Tis that which binds many spirits in union.
Bond, though ever so slight, like the grass on a wreath.
LXXVII.
What is the holiest? That which binds to-day and forever,
Spirits in sympathy close, union of soul unto soul.
LXXVIII.
Who is the worthiest man in the state? A respectable burgher;
Under whatever rule he is the soldiest prop.
LXXIX.
Who then is really a prince? My own observation has taught me
He alone is a prince who has it in him to be.
LXXX.
Wisdom failing in rulers, right good-will in the people,
Force must grasp the helm, else will destruction ensue.
LXXXI.
Many states have I seen, and that stands high above others,
Where the rulers must serve, leaving to others the gain.
LXXXII.
Only let every being fairly use his advantage,
Granting to others their share; then will peace ever reign.
LXXXIII.
But if none is content with the share that Fate has allotted,
Then is the train ready laid always and ever for war.
LXXXIV.
Twain are the methods of speaking the truth if truth be unwelcome:
Frankly that people may know, secretly unto the prince.
LXXXV.
If thou findest fault with the individual loudly,
He will harden his heart as the throng do at praise.
LXXXVI.
Thou art monarch and knight and thou canst rule and do battle;
But if treaties are made call the chancellor’s aid.
LXXXVII.
Wise, industrious, firm, acquainted with all, understanding
High and low alike, thus the minister stands.
LXXXVIII.
What is the courtier I honor? The keenest and shrewdest. Whatever
Yet that he fails to possess comes to his service as man.
LXXXIX.
Whether thou art the wisest or not who gives an opinion?
But — be the upright man both at home and abroad.
XC.
Whether thou wakest or not we care not, provided thou singest.
Sing, O watchman, thy song, sleeping, as multitudes do.
XCI.
Now, O Autumn, thou strewest only yellowing leaflets.
Give me another year full-ripen’d fruit instead.
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WINTER.
XCII.
WATER is body and substance in flux. The stage that is newest
Shines in the glow of the sun held by the shimmering shores.
XCIII.
Truly it seems like a vision! Life in significant pictures
Hovers earnest and fair over the far-gleaming plains.
XCIV.
Countless centuries frozen, like ice, stretch off in our vision;
Reason and Sympathy glide dim in the background away.
XCV.
Only the level plain conditions the whirl of existence:
If it be smooth we all reck not of danger at hand.
XCVI.
All are striving and hasting, seeking and fleeing each other;
Yet our courses are fix’d over the slippery plain.
XCVII.
Hither and thither they glide, the pupils and master together,
And the common folk holding the middle way.
XCVIII.
Every one must show what he can; not praise and not glory
Kept this man from the goal, drove that other one on.
XCIX.
You who praise the bungler, the Master’s detractors, I see you,
Dumb with impotent rage, standing here on the shore.
C.
Novice! thou totterest clumsily shunning, the dangerous mirror.
Keep up thy heart! thou wilt be soon the pride of the course.
CI.
Wilt thou already show prowess, and art not confident? Nonsense!
Only from well-pois’d force gleams true happiness forth.
CII.
Falls are the fortune of man; the pupil must fall, and the master
Also will meet with mishaps; let him beware how he strikes.
CIII.
If the skilfullest skater but fall, the idle spectators
Laugh, as over their cups men boast of whipping their foes.
CIV.
Glide away joyfully, giving advice to the novice beginning;
Take full pride in thy leadership, joy in the day.
CV.
See! already the Spring is at hand. The hurrying waters
Waste the ice from below, gentler sunbeams above.
CVI.
This generation is vanish’d, scatter’d the radiant circles.
Fishers and sailors once more claim the swift-rolling stream.
CVII.
Swim, thou wonderful floe, away, and if thou shalt never
Join the sea as a floe, drop by drop thou may’st come.
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Sonnets.
Lovingly I’ll sing of love;
Ever comes she from above.
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THE FRIENDLY MEETING.
ENROB’D with mantle to my chin conceal’d,
I trod the rocky path, so steep and gray,
Then to the wintry plain I bent my way
Uneasily, to flight my bosom steel’d.
But sudden was the newborn day reveal’d:
A maiden came, in heavenly bright array,
Like the fair creatures of the poet’s lay
In realms of song. My yearning heart was heal’d.
Yet turn’d I thence, till she had onward pass’d,
While closer still the folds to draw I tried,
As though with heat self-kindled to grow warm;
But follow’d her. She stood. The die was cast!
No more within my mantle could I hide;
I threw it off, — she lay within mine arm.
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IN A WORD.
THUS to be chain’d forever can I bear?
A very torment that, in truth, would be.
This very day my new resolve shall see, —
I’ll not go near the lately-worshipp’d Fair.
Yet what excuse, my heart, can I prepare
In such a case, for not consulting thee?
But courage! while our sorrows utter we
In tones where love, grief, gladness have a
share.
But see! the minstrel’s bidding to obey,
Its melody pours forth the sounding lyre,
Yearning a sacrifice of love to bring.
Scarce would’st thou think it — ready is the lay;
Well, but what then? Methought in the first fire
We to her presence flew, that lay to sing.
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THE MAIDEN SPEAKS.
HOW grave thou lookest, lov’d one! wherefore so?
Thy marble image seems a type of thee;
Like it, no sign of life thou giv’st to me;
Compar’d with thee, the stone appears to glow.
Behind his shield in ambush lurks the foe,
The friend’s brow all-unruffled we should see.
I seek thee, but thou seek’st away to flee;
Fix’d as this sculptur’d figure, learn to grow!
Tell me, to which should I the preference pay?
Must I from both with coldness meet alone?
The one is lifeless, thou with life art bless’d.
In short, no longer to throw words away,
I’ll fondly kiss and kiss and kiss this stone,
Till thou dost tear me hence with envious breast.
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GROWTH.
O’ER field and plain, in childhood’s artless days,
Thou sprang’st with me, on many a springmorn fair.
“For such a daughter, with what pleasing care,
Would I, as father, happy dwellings raise!”
And when thou on the world didst cast thy gaze,
Thy joy was then in household toils to share.
“Why did I trust her, why she trust me e’er?
For such a sister, how I Heaven should praise!”
Nothing can now the beauteous growth retard;
Love’s glowing flame within my breast is fann’d.
Shall I embrace her form, my grief to end?
Thee as a queen must I, alas, regard:
So high above me plac’d thou seem’st to stand;
Before a passing look I meekly bend.
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FOOD IN TRAVEL.
IF to her eyes’ bright lustre I were blind,
No longer would they serve my life to gild.
The will of destiny must be fulfill’d, —
This knowing, I withdrew with sadden’d mind.
No further happiness I now could find;
The former longings of my heart were still’d;
I sought her looks alone, whereon to build
My joy in life, — all else was left behind.
Wine’s genial glow, the festal banquet gay,
Ease, sleep, and friends, all wonted pleasures glad
Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Page 275