To another town, next night:
Black the bread, the maidens white!
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GENIAL IMPULSE.
THUS roll I, never taking ease,
My tub, like Saint Diogenes,
Now serious am, now seek to please;
Now love and hate in turns one sees;
The motives now are those, now these;
Now nothings, now realities.
Thus roll I, never taking ease,
My tub, like Saint Diogenes.
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NEITHER THIS NOR THAT.
IF thou to be a slave should’st will,
Thou’lt get no pity, but fare ill;
And if a master thou would’st be,
The world will view it angrily;
And if in statu quo thou stay,
That thou art but a fool, they’ll say.
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THE WAY TO BEHAVE.
THOUGH tempers are bad, and peevish folks swear,
Remember to ruffle thy brows, friend, ne’er;
And let not the fancies of women so fair
E’er serve thy pleasure in life to impair.
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THE BEST.
WHEN head and heart are busy, say,
What better can be found?
Who neither loves nor goes astray,
Were better under ground.
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AS BROAD AS IT’S LONG.
MODEST men must needs endure,
And the bold must humbly bow;
Thus thy fate’s the same, be sure,
Whether bold or modest thou.
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CALM AT SEA.
SILENCE deep rules o’er the waters,
Calmly slumb’ring lies the main,
While the sailor views with trouble
Naught but one vast level plain.
Not a zephyr is in motion!
Silence fearful as the grave!
In the mighty waste of ocean
Sunk to rest is ev’ry wave.
BE who with life makes sport
Can prosper never,
Who rules himself in naught,
Is a slave ever.
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THE RULE OF LIFE.
IF thou would’st live unruffled by care,
Let not the past torment thee e’er;
As little as possible be thou annoy’d,
And let the present be ever enjoy’d;
Ne’er let thy breast with hate be supplied,
And to God the future confide.
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THE SAME, EXPANDED.
IF thou would’st live unruffled by care,
Let not the past torment thee e’er;
If any loss thou hast to rue,
Act as though thou wert born anew;
Inquire the meaning of each day:
What each day means, itself will say;
In their own actions take thy pleasure,
What others do, thou’lt duly treasure,
Ne’er let thy breast with hate be supplied,
And to God the future confide.
GOOD wine is drunken everywhere.
For gracefulest cup the toper’s no seeker;
But if my wine shall taste me fair,
Give me a costly Grecian beaker.
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THE FAIR AT HUEHENEFELD.
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July 25th, 1814.
I WENT with haughty nonchalance
To give the Fair a passing glance,
To see the pedlers at the booths,
And, using old Lavater’s truths,
Once whisper’d in my ear, to try
If I were wise yet. Bluff’d was I.
The first I saw were soldiers gay,
Dress’d in their very best array.
The stress and strain of war was done;
They had no wish for another begun.
Their fine coats for the girls had charms,
Who threw themselves in the soldiers’ arms.
Peasant and burgher stood amaz’d;
The excellent lads were almost daz’d;
Their pennies and pains were thoroughly wasted;
The cup of glory they had not tasted.
And so for the end they all stood waiting,
Not quite pleas’d in contemplating.
Matrons and maidens with repose
Fitted themselves with wooden sabots.
You could see by their gestures, by their faces,
That their hopes were set in lofty places.
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THE LITTLE GIRL’S WISH.
OH, would that some friend
A husband would send!
’Tis such a nice game,
Mamma is my name.
One needs not to go
To school or to sew!
Then one can command;
Has servants at hand!
Can choose her own dresses,
And, what I confess is
The nicest, have candy
And sugar-plums handy;
And go out to ride;
And at balls be a bride;
And not have to ask
Papa and mamma, or be taken to task.
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EPITAPH.
AS a boy, reserv’d and naughty;
As a youth, a coxcomb and haughty;
As a man, for action inclin’d;
As a graybeard, fickle in mind. —
Upon thy grave will people read:
This was a very man, indeed!
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ADMONITION.
WHEREFORE ever ramble on?
For the Good is lying near.
Fortune learn to seize alone,
For that Fortune’s ever here.
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MY ONLY PROPERTY.
I FEEL that I’m possess’d of naught,
Saving the free unfetter’d thought
Which from my bosom seeks to flow,
And each propitious passing hour
That suffers me in all its power
A loving fate with truth to know.
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OLD AGE.
OLD age is courteous — no one more:
For time after time he knocks at the door,
But nobody says, “Walk in, sir, pray!”
Yet turns he not from the door away,
But lifts the latch, and enters with speed,
And then they cry, “A cool one, indeed!”
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COURAGE.
CARELESSLY over the plain away,
Where by the boldest man no path
Cut before thee thou canst discern,
Make for thyself a path!
Silence, lov’d one, my heart!
Cracking, let it not break!
Breaking, break not with thee!
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> RULE FOR MONARCHS.
IF men are never their thoughts to employ,
Take care to provide them a life full of joy;
But if to some profit and use thou would’st bend them,
Take care to shear them, and then defend them.
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MEMORIES.
THE remembrance of the Good
Keeps us ever glad in mood.
The remembrance of the Fair
Makes a mortal rapture share.
The remembrance of one’s Love
Bless’d is, if it constant prove.
The remembrance of the One
Is the greatest joy that’s known.
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PAULO POST FUTURI.
WEEP ye not, ye children dear,
That as yet ye are unborn:
For each sorrow and each tear
Makes the father’s heart to mourn.
Patient be a short time to it,
Unproduc’d, and known to none;
If your father cannot do it,
By your mother ‘twill be done.
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THE FOOL’S EPILOGUE.
MANY good works I’ve done and ended,
Ye take the praise — I’m not offended;
For in the world, I’ve always thought
Each thing its true position hath sought.
When prais’d for foolish deeds am I,
I set off laughing heartily;
When blam’d for doing something good,
I take it in an easy mood.
If some one stronger gives me hard blows,
That it’s a jest, I feign to suppose;
But if ’tis one that’s but my own like,
I know the way such folks to strike.
When Fortune smiles, I merry grow,
And sing in dulci jubilo;
When sinks her wheel, and tumbles me o’er,
I think ’tis sure to rise once more.
In the sunshine of summer I ne’er lament,
Because the winter it cannot prevent;
And when the white snow-flakes fall around,
I don my skates, and am off with a bound.
Though I dissemble as I will,
The sun for me will ne’er stand still;
The old and wonted course is run,
Until the whole of life is done;
Each day the servant like the lord
In turns comes home, and goes abroad;
If proud or humble the line they take,
They all must eat, drink, sleep and wake.
So nothing ever vexes me;
Act like the fool, and wise ye’ll be!
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ON THE DIVAN.
HE who knows himself and others
Here will also see,
That the East and West, like brothers,
Parted ne’er shall be.
Thoughtfully to float forever
‘Tween two worlds, be man’s endeavor
So between the East and West
To revolve, be my behest!
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God and World.
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PROOEMION.
IN His bless’d name, who was His own creation,
Who from all time makes making his vocation;
The name of Him who makes our faith so bright,
Love, confidence, activity and might;
In that One’s name, who, nam’d though oft He be,
Unknown is ever in Reality:
As far as ear can reach, or eyesight dim,
Thou findest but the known resembling Him;
How high soe’er thy fiery spirit hovers,
Its simile and type it straight discovers;
Onward thou’rt drawn, with feelings light and gay,
Where’er thou goest, smiling is the way;
No more thou numb’rest, reckonest no time,
Each step is infinite, each step sublime.
What God would outwardly alone control,
And on His finger whirl the mighty Whole?
He loves the inner world to move, to view
Nature in Him, Himself in Nature too,
So that what in Him works, and is, and lives,
The measure of His strength, His spirit gives.
Within us all a universe doth dwell;
And hence each people’s usage laudable,
That ev’ry one the Best that meets his eyes
As God, yea e’en his God, doth recognize;
To Him both earth and heaven surrenders he,
Fears Him, and loves Him too, if that may be.
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THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS.
THOU art confus’d, my beloved, at seeing the thousandfold union
Shown in this flowery troop, over the garden dispers’d;
Many a name dost thou hear assign’d; one after another
Falls on thy list’ning ear, with a barbarian sound.
None resembleth another, yet all their forms have a likeness;
Therefore, a mystical law is by the chorus proclaim’d;
Yes, a sacred enigma! O dearest friend, could I only
Happily teach thee the word, which may the mystery solve!
Closely observe how the plant, by little and little progressing,
Step by step guided on, changeth to blossom and fruit!
First from the seed it unravels itself, as soon as the silent
Fruit-bearing womb of the earth kindly allows its escape,
And to the charms of the light, the holy, the ever-in-motion,
Trusteth the delicate leaves, feebly beginning to shoot.
Simply slumber’d the force in the seed; a germ of the future,
Peacefully lock’d in itself, ‘neath the integument lay,
Leaf and root, and bud, still void of color, and shapeless;
Thus doth the kernel, while dry, cover that motionless life.
Upward then strives it to swell, in gentle moisture confiding,
And, from the night where it dwelt, straightway ascendeth to light.
Yet still simple remaineth its figure, when first it appeareth;
And ’tis a token like this points out the child ‘mid the plants.
Soon a shoot, succeeding it, riseth on high, and reneweth,
Piling up node upon node, ever the primitive form;
Yet not ever alike: for the following leaf, as thou seest,
Ever produceth itself, fashion’d in manifold ways.
Longer, more indented, in points and in parts more divided,
Which, all-deform’d until now, slept in the organ below,
So at length it attaineth the noble and destin’d perfection,
Which, in full many a tribe, fills thee with wondering awe.
Many ribb’d and tooth’d, on a surface juicy and swelling,
Free and unending the shoot seemeth in fulness to be;
Yet here Nature restraineth, with powerful hands, the formation,
And to a perfecter end, guideth with softness its growth,
Less abundantly yielding the sap, contracting the vessels,
So that the figure ere long gentler effects doth disclose.
Soon and in silence is check’d the growth of the vigorous branches,
And the rib of the stalk fuller becometh in form.
Leafless, however, and quick the tenderer stem then upspringeth,
And a miraculous sight doth the observer enchant.
Rang’d in a circle, in numbers that now are small, an
d now countless,
Gather the smaller-siz’d leaves, close by the side of their like.
Round the axis compress’d the sheltering calyx unfoldeth,
And, as the perfectest type, brilliant-hued coronals forms.
Thus doth Nature bloom, in glory still nobler and fuller,
Showing, in order arrang’d, member on member uprear’d.
Wonderment fresh dost thou feel, as soon as the stem rears the flower
Over the scaffolding frail of the alternating leaves.
But this glory is only the new creation’s foreteller,
Yes, the leaf with its hues feeleth the hand all divine,
And on a sudden contracteth itself; the tenderest figures,
Twofold as yet, hasten on, destin’d to blend into one.
Lovingly now the beauteous pairs are standing together,
Gather’d in countless array, there where the altar is rais’d.
Hymen hovereth o’er them, and scents delicious and mighty
Stream forth their fragrance so sweet, all things enliv’ning around.
Presently, parcell’d out, unnumber’d germs are seen swelling,
Sweetly conceal’d in the womb, where is made perfect the fruit.
Here doth Nature close the ring of her forces eternal;
Yet doth a new one at once cling to the one gone before,
So that the chain be prolonged forever through all generations,
And that the whole may have life, e’en as enjoy’d by each part.
Now, my beloved one, turn thy gaze on the many-hued thousands
Which, confusing no more, gladden the mind as they wave.
Every plant unto thee proclaimeth the laws everlasting,
Every floweret speaks louder and louder to thee;
But if thou here canst decipher the mystic words of the goddess,
Everywhere will they be seen, e’en though the features are chang’d;
Creeping insects may linger, the eager butterfly hasten, —
Plastic and forming may man change e’en the figure decreed!
Oh, then, bethink thee, as well, how out of the germ of acquaintance
Kindly intercourse sprang, slowly unfolding its leaves;
Soon how friendship with might unveil’d itself in our bosoms,
And how Amor at length brought forth blossom and fruit!
Think of the manifold ways wherein Nature hath lent to our feelings,
Silently giving them birth, either the first or the last!
Yes, and rejoice in the present day! For love that is holy
Seeketh the noblest of fruits — that where the thoughts are the same,
Where the opinions agree — that the pair may, in rapt contemplation,
Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Page 285