Book: The Poems Of Goethe

• Table Song

  O'ER me--how I cannot say,--
  Heav'nly rapture's growing.

  64 lines
• Wont And Done

  I HAVE loved; for the first time with passion I rave!
  I then was the servant, but now am the slave;

  36 lines
• General Confession

  In this noble ring to-day
  Let my warning shame ye!

  42 lines
• Coptic Song

  LEAVE we the pedants to quarrel and strive,
  Rigid and cautious the teachers to be!

  19 lines
• Another

  Go! obedient to my call,
  Turn to profit thy young days,

  10 lines
• Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas!

  MY trust in nothing now is placed,
  Hurrah!

  49 lines
• Fortune Of War

  NOUGHT more accursed in war I know
  Than getting off scot-free;

  56 lines
• Open Table

  MANY a guest I'd see to-day,
  Met to taste my dishes!

  64 lines
• The Reckoning

  LET no cares now hover o'er us
  Let the wine unsparing run!

  89 lines
• Ergo Bibamus!

  FOR a praiseworthy object we're now gather'd here,
  So, brethren, sing: ERGO BIBAMUS!

  32 lines
• Epiphanias

  THE three holy kings with their star's bright ray,--
  They eat and they drink, but had rather not pay;

  32 lines
• Mignon

  KNOW'ST thou the land where the fair citron blows,
  Where the bright orange midst the foliage glows,

  21 lines
• The Minstrel

  "What tuneful strains salute mine ear
  Without the castle walls?

  42 lines
• Ballad Of The Banished And Returning Count

  OH, enter old minstrel, thou time-honour'd one!
  We children are here in the hall all alone,

  100 lines
• The Violet

  UPON the mead a violet stood,
  Retiring, and of modest mood,

  21 lines, 1 comment
• The Faithless Boy

  THERE was a wooer blithe and gay,
  A son of France was he,--

  42 lines
• The Erl-King

  Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
  The father it is, with his infant so dear;

  38 lines, 2 comments
• Johanna Sebus

  THE DAM BREAKS DOWN, THE ICE-PLAIN GROWLS,
  THE FLOODS ARISE, THE WATER HOWLS.

  48 lines
• The Fisherman

  THE waters rush'd, the waters rose,
  A fisherman sat by,

  32 lines
• The King Of Thule

  IN Thule lived a monarch,
  Still faithful to the grave,

  24 lines
• The Beauteous Flower - Son Of The Imprisioned Count

  COUNT.
  I KNOW a flower of beauty rare,

  93 lines
• Sir Curt's Wedding-Journey

  WITH a bridegroom's joyous bearing,
  Mounts Sir Curt his noble beast,

  40 lines
• Wedding Song

  THE tale of the Count our glad song shall record
  Who had in this castle his dwelling,

  73 lines
• The Treasure Digger

  ALL my weary days I pass'd
  Sick at heart and poor in purse.

  40 lines
• The Rat-Catcher

  I AM the bard known far and wide,
  The travell'd rat-catcher beside;

  24 lines
• The Spinner

  As I calmly sat and span,
  Toiling with all zeal,

  28 lines
• Before A Court Of Justice

  THE father's name ye ne'er shall be told
  Of my darling unborn life;

  16 lines
• The Page And The Miller's Daughter

  WHERE goest thou? Where?
  Miller's daughter so fair!

  45 lines
• The Maid Of The Mill's Treachery

  WHENCE comes our friend so hastily,
  When scarce the Eastern sky is grey?

  128 lines
• The Maid Of The Mill's Repentance

  AWAY, thou swarthy witch! Go forth
  From out my house, I tell thee!

  88 lines
• The Traveller And The Farm-Maiden

  CANST thou give, oh fair and matchless maiden,
  'Neath the shadow of the lindens yonder,--

  70 lines
• Effects At A Distance

  THE queen in the lofty hall takes her place,
  The tapers around her are flaming;

  48 lines
• The Walking Bell

  A CHILD refused to go betimes
  To church like other people;

  28 lines
• Faithful Eckart

  "OH, would we were further! Oh, would we were home,
  The phantoms of night tow'rd us hastily come,

  48 lines
• The Dance Of Death

  THE warder looks down at the mid hour of night,
  On the tombs that lie scatter'd below:

  49 lines, 3 comments
• The Pupil In Magic

  I AM now,--what joy to hear it!--
  Of the old magician rid;

  98 lines, 2 comments
• The Bride Of Corinth

  ONCE a stranger youth to Corinth came,
  Who in Athens lived, but hoped that he

  196 lines
• The God And The Bayadere - An Indian Legend

  MAHADEVA, Lord of earth
  For the sixth time comes below,

  99 lines
• The Pariah - The Pariah's Prayer

  DREADED Brama, lord of might!
  All proceed from thee alone;

  24 lines
• The Pariah - Legend

  WATER-FETCHING goes the noble
  Brahmin's wife, so pure and lovely;

  145 lines
• The Pariah - The Pariah's Thanks

  MIGHTY Brama, now I'll bless thee!
  'Tis from thee that worlds proceed!

  12 lines
• Death-Lament Of The Noble Wife Of Asan Aga

  WHAT is yonder white thing in the forest?
  Is it snow, or can it swans perchance be?

  91 lines
• Idyll

  A village Chorus is supposed to be assembled, and about to
  commence its festive procession.

  94 lines
• Rinaldo

  CHORUS.
  To the strand! quick, mount the bark!

  135 lines
• The First Walpurgis-Night

  A DRUID.
  

  111 lines
• To My Friend - Ode I

  TRANSPLANT the beauteous tree!
  Gardener, it gives me pain;

  40 lines
• To My Friend - Ode II

  THOU go'st! I murmur--
  Go! let me murmur.

  24 lines
• To My Friend - Ode III

  BE void of feeling!
  A heart that soon is stirr'd,

  48 lines
• Mahomet's Song

  SEE the rock-born stream!
  Like the gleam

  68 lines
• Spirit Song Over The Waters

  THE soul of man
  Resembleth water:

  35 lines
• My Goddess

  SAY, which Immortal
  Merits the highest reward?

  78 lines
• Winter Journey Over The Hartz Mountain

  LIKE the vulture
  Who on heavy morning clouds

  88 lines
• To Father Kronos

  HASTEN thee, Kronos!
  On with clattering trot

  41 lines
• The Wanderer's Storm-Song

  He whom thou ne'er leavest, Genius,
  Feels no dread within his heart

  115 lines
• The Sea-Voyage

  MANY a day and night my bark stood ready laden;
  Waiting fav'ring winds, I sat with true friends round me,

  46 lines
• The Eagle And The Dove

  IN search of prey once raised his pinions
  An eaglet;

  53 lines
• Prometheus

  COVER thy spacious heavens, Zeus,
  With clouds of mist,

  57 lines
• Ganymede

  How, in the light of morning,
  Round me thou glowest,

  31 lines
• The Boundaries Of Humanity

  WHEN the primeval
  All-holy Father

  42 lines
• The Godlike

  NOBLE be man,
  Helpful and good!

  59 lines
• The German Parnassus

  'NEATH the shadow
  Of these bushes,

  232 lines
• Lily's Menagerie

  THERE'S no menagerie, I vow,
  Excels my Lily's at this minute;

  134 lines
• To Charlotte

  'MIDST the noise of merriment and glee,
  'Midst full many a sorrow, many a care,

  45 lines
• Love's Distresses

  WHO will hear me? Whom shall I lament to?
  Who would pity me that heard my sorrows?

  17 lines
• The Musagetes

  IN the deepest nights of Winter
  To the Muses kind oft cried I:

  46 lines
• Morning Lament

  OH thou cruel deadly-lovely maiden,
  Tell me what great sin have I committed,

  59 lines
• The Visit

  FAIN had I to-day surprised my mistress,
  But soon found I that her door was fasten'd.

  55 lines
• The Magic Net

  Do I see a contest yonder?
  See I miracles or pastimes?

  42 lines
• The Goblet

  ONCE I held a well-carved brimming goblet,--
  In my two hands tightly clasp'd I held it,

  27 lines
• To The Grasshopper

  HAPPY art thou, darling insect,
  Who, upon the trees' tall branches,

  19 lines
• From

  EV'RY youth for love's sweet portion sighs,
  Ev'ry maiden sighs to win man's love;

  8 lines
• Trilogy Of Passion 01 To Werther

  ONCE more, then, much-wept shadow, thou dost dare
  Boldly to face the day's clear light,

  50 lines
• Trilogy Of Passion 02 Elegy

  When man had ceased to utter his lament,
  A god then let me tell my tale of sorrow.

  141 lines
• Trilogy Of Passion 03 Atonement

  PASSION brings reason--who can pacify
  An anguish'd heart whose loss hath been so great?

  18 lines
• The Remembrance Of The Good

  THE remembrance of the Good
  Keep us ever glad in mood.

  8 lines
• When I Was Still A Youthful Wight

  WHEN I was still a youthful wight,
  So full of enjoyment and merry,

  12 lines
• For Ever

  THE happiness that man, whilst prison'd here,
  Is wont with heavenly rapture to compare,--

  8 lines, 2 comments
• From An Album Of 1604

  HOPE provides wings to thought, and love to hope.
  Rise up to Cynthia, love, when night is clearest,

  18 lines
• Lines On Seeing Schiller's Skull

  WITHIN a gloomy charnel-house one day
  I view'd the countless skulls, so strangely mated,

  34 lines
• Royal Prayer

  HA, I am the lord of earth! The noble,
  Who're in my service, love me.

  6 lines
• Human Feelings

  AH, ye gods! ye great immortals
  In the spacious heavens above us!

  6 lines
• On The Divan

  HE who knows himself and others
  Here will also see,

  8 lines
• Explanation Of An Ancient Woodcut

  EARLY within his workshop here,
  On Sundays stands our master dear;

  182 lines
• The Friendly Meeting

  IN spreading mantle to my chin conceald,
  I trod the rocky path, so steep and grey,

  14 lines
• In A Word

  THUS to be chain'd for ever, can I bear?
  A very torment that, in truth, would be.

  14 lines
• The Maiden Speaks

  How grave thou loookest, loved one! wherefore so?
  Thy marble image seems a type of thee;

  14 lines
• Growth

  O'ER field and plain, in childhood's artless days,
  Thou sprang'st with me, on many a spring-morn fair.

  14 lines
• Food In Travel

  IF to her eyes' bright lustre I were blind,
  No longer would they serve my life to gild.

  15 lines
• Departure

  WITH many a thousand kiss not yet content,
  At length with One kiss I was forced to go;

  14 lines, 1 comment
• The Loving One Writes

  THE look that thy sweet eyes on mine impress
  The pledge thy lips to mine convey,--the kiss,--

  14 lines
• The Loving One Once More

  WHY do I o'er my paper once more bend?
  Ask not too closely, dearest one, I pray

  14 lines
• She Cannot End

  WHEN unto thee I sent the page all white,
  Instead of first thereon inscribing aught,

  14 lines
• Nemesis

  WHEN through the nations stalks contagion wild,
  We from them cautiously should steal away.

  14 lines
• The Christmas-Box

  THIS box, mine own sweet darling, thou wilt find
  With many a varied sweetmeat's form supplied;

  14 lines
• The Warning

  WHEN sounds the trumpet at the Judgment Day,
  And when forever all things earthly die,

  14 lines
• The Epochs

  ON Petrarch's heart, all other days before,
  In flaming letters written, was impress d

  14 lines
• The Doubters And The Lovers

  YE love, and sonnets write! Fate's strange behest!
  The heart, its hidden meaning to declare,

  16 lines
• Charade

  YE love, and sonnets write! Fate's strange behest!
  The heart, its hidden meaning to declare,

  14 lines
• The Originals

  A FELLOW says: "I own no school or college;
  No master lives whom I acknowledge;

  6 lines, 1 comment
• The Soldier's Consolation

  No! in truth there's here no lack:
  White the bread, the maidens black!

  4 lines, 1 comment
• Genial Impulse

  THUS roll I, never taking ease,
  My tub, like Saint Diogenes,

  8 lines, 2 comments
• Neither This Nor That

  IF thou to be a slave shouldst will,
  Thou'lt get no pity, but fare ill;

  6 lines
• The Way To Behave

  THOUGH tempers are bad and peevish folks swear,
  Remember to ruffle thy brows, friend, ne'er;

  4 lines
• The Best

  WHEN head and heart are busy, say,
  What better can be found?

  4 lines, 1 comment
• As Broad As It's Long

  MODEST men must needs endure,
  And the bold must humbly bow;

  4 lines
• The Rule Of Life

  IF thou wouldst live unruffled by care,

  6 lines
• The Rule Of Life Expanded

  IF thou wouldst live unruffled by care,
  Let not the past torment thee e'er;

  29 lines
• Calm At Sea

  SILENCE deep rules o'er the waters,
  Calmly slumb'ring lies the main,

  8 lines
• The Prosperous Voyage

  THE mist is fast clearing.
  And radiant is heaven,

  10 lines
• Courage

  CARELESSLY over the plain away,
  Where by the boldest man no path

  7 lines
• My Own Property

  I FEEL that I'm possess'd of nought,
  Saving the free unfetterd thought

  6 lines
• Admonition

  WHEREFORE ever ramble on?
  For the Good is lying near,

  4 lines, 1 comment
• Old Age

  OLD age is courteous--no one more:
  For time after time he knocks at the door,

  6 lines
• Epitaph

  As a boy, reserved and naughty;
  As a youth, a coxcomb and haughty;

  6 lines
• Rules For Monarchs

  IF men are never their thoughts to employ,
  Take care to provide them a life full of joy;

  4 lines
• Paulo Post Futuri

  WEEP ye not, ye children dear,
  That as yet ye are unborn:

  8 lines
• The Fool's Epilogue

  MANY good works I've done and ended,
  Ye take the praise--I'm not offended;

  30 lines
• Joy

  A DRAGON-FLY with beauteous wing
  Is hov'ring o'er a silv'ry spring;

  14 lines
• Explanation Of An Antique Gem

  A YOUNG fig-tree its form lifts high
  Within a beauteous garden;

  20 lines
• Cat-Pie

  WHILE he is mark'd by vision clear
  Who fathoms Nature's treasures,

  24 lines
• Legend

  THERE lived in the desert a holy man
  To whom a goat-footed Faun one day

  16 lines
• Authors

  OVER the meadows, and down the stream,
  And through the garden-walks straying,

  16 lines
• The Critic

  I HAD a fellow as my guest,
  Not knowing he was such a pest,

  12 lines
• The Dilettante And The Critic

  A BOY a pigeon once possess'd,
  In gay and brilliant plumage dress'd;

  25 lines
• The Wrangler

  ONE day a shameless and impudent wight
  Went into a shop full of steel wares bright,

  20 lines
• The Yelpers

  OUR rides in all directions bend,
  For business or for pleasure,

  8 lines, 1 comment
• The Stork's Vocation

  THE stork who worms and frogs devours
  That in our ponds reside,

  12 lines
• Celebrity

  ON bridges small and bridges great
  Stands Nepomucks in ev'ry state,

  30 lines
• Playing At Priests

  WITHIN a town where parity
  According to old form we see,--

  47 lines
• Songs

  SONGS are like painted window-panes!
  In darkness wrapp'd the church remains,

  13 lines
• Poetry

  GOD to his untaught children sent
  Law, order, knowledge, art, from high,

  8 lines
• A Parable

  I PICKED a rustic nosegay lately,
  And bore it homewards, musing greatly;

  13 lines, 1 comment
• Should E'er The Loveless Day

  SHOULD e'er the loveless day remain
  Obscured by storms of hail and rain,

  6 lines
• A Plan The Muses Entertained

  A PLAN the Muses entertain'd
  Methodically to impart

  8 lines
• The Death Of The Fly

  WITH eagerness he drinks the treach'rous potion,
  Nor stops to rest, by the first taste misled;

  10 lines
• By The River II

  WHEN by the broad stream thou dost dwell,
  Oft shallow is its sluggish flood;

  12 lines
• The Fox And The Crane

  ONCE two persons uninvited
  Came to join my dinner table;

  29 lines
• The Fox And The Huntsman

  HARD 'tis on a fox's traces
  To arrive, midst forest-glades;

  8 lines
• The Frogs

  A POOL was once congeal'd with frost;
  The frogs, in its deep waters lost,

  10 lines
• The Wedding

  A FEAST was in a village spread,--
  It was a wedding-day, they said.

  15 lines
• Burial

  To the grave one day from a house they bore
  A maiden;

  10 lines
• Threatening Signs

  IF Venus in the evening sky
  Is seen in radiant majesty,

  24 lines
• The Buyers

  To an apple-woman's stall
  Once some children nimbly ran;

  13 lines
• The Mountain Village

  \

  8 lines
• Symbols

  PALM Sunday at the Vatican
  They celebrate with palms;

  16 lines
• Three Palinodias - 01

  \

  14 lines
• Three Palinodias - 03 Rain And Rainbow

  DURING a heavy storm it chanced
  That from his room a cockney glanced

  26 lines
• Valediction

  I ONCE was fond of fools,
  And bid them come each day;

  32 lines
• The Country Schoolmaster

  A MASTER of a country school
  Jump'd up one day from off his stool

  45 lines
• The Legend Of The Horseshoe

  WHAT time our Lord still walk'd the earth,
  Unknown, despised, of humble birth,

  64 lines
• A Symbol

  THE mason's trade Observe them well,
  Resembles life, And watch them revealing

  15 lines
• The Drops Of Nectar

  WHEN Minerva, to give pleasure
  To Prometheus, her well-loved one,

  22 lines
• The Wanderer

  WANDERER.
  YOUNG woman, may God bless thee,

  201 lines
• Love As A Landscape Painter

  ON a rocky peak once sat I early,
  Gazing on the mist with eyes unmoving;

  67 lines
• Rhymed Distichs

  WHO trusts in God,
  Fears not His rod.

  24 lines
• Procemion

  IN His blest name, who was His own creation,
  Who from all time makes making his vocation;

  28 lines
• The Metamorphosis Of Plants

  THOU art confused, my beloved, at, seeing the thousandfold union
  Shown in this flowery troop, over the garden dispers'd;

  80 lines
• Proverbs

  'TIS easier far a wreath to bind,
  Than a good owner fort to find.

  16 lines
• Thoughts On Jesus Christ's Decent Into Hell

  WHAT wondrous noise is heard around!
  Through heaven exulting voices sound,

  160 lines, 1 comment
• Leopold, Duke Of Brunswick

  THOU wert forcibly seized by the hoary lord of the river,--
  Holding thee, ever he shares with thee his streaming domain,

  6 lines
• To The Husbandman

  SMOOTHLY and lightly the golden seed by the furrow is cover'd;
  Yet will a deeper one, friend, cover thy bones at the last.

  4 lines, 1 comment
• Anacreon's Grave

  HERE where the roses blossom, where vines round the laurels are twining,
  Where the turtle-dove calls, where the blithe cricket is heard,

  6 lines
• The Brethren

  SLUMBER and Sleep, two brethren ordain'd by the gods to their service,
  Were by Prometheus implored, comfort to give to his race;

  4 lines
• Measure Of Time

  EROS, what mean'st thou by this? In each of thine hands is an hourglass!
  What, oh thou frivolous god! twofold thy measure of time?

  4 lines
• Warning

  WAKEN not Amor from sleep! The beauteous urchin still slumbers;
  Go, and complete thou the task, that to the day is assign'd!

  4 lines
• Solitude

  OH ye kindly nymphs, who dwell 'mongst the rocks and the thickets,
  Grant unto each whatsoe'er he may in silence desire!

  6 lines
• The Chosen Cliff

  HERE in silence the lover fondly mused on his loved one;
  Gladly he spake to me thus: \

  8 lines
• The Consecrated Spot

  WHEN in the dance of the Nymphs, in the moonlight so holy assembled,
  Mingle the Graces, down from Olympus in secret descending,

  8 lines
• The Instructors

  WHEN Diogenes quietly sunn'd himself in his barrel,
  When Calanus with joy leapt in the flame-breathing grave,

  4 lines
• The Unequal Marriage

  EVEN this heavenly pair were unequally match'd when united:
  Psyche grew older and wise, Amor remain'd still a child,

  2 lines
• Excuse

  THOU dost complain of woman for changing from one to another?
  Censure her not: for she seeks one who will constant remain.

  3 lines
• Sakontala

  WOULDST thou the blossoms of spring, as well as the fruits of the autumn,
  Wouldst thou what charms and delights, wouldst thou what plenteously, feeds,

  4 lines
• The Muse's Mirror

  EARLY one day, the Muse, when eagerly bent on adornment,
  Follow'd a swift-running streamlet, the quietest nook by it seeking.

  9 lines
• Phoebus And Hermes

  DELOS' stately ruler, and Maia's son, the adroit one,
  Warmly were striving, for both sought the great prize to obtain.

  8 lines
• The New Amor

  AMOR, not the child, the youthful lover of Psyche,
  Look'd round Olympus one day, boldly, to triumph inured;

  10 lines
• The Garlands

  KLOPSTOCK would lead us away from Pindus; no longer for laurel
  May we be eager--the homely acorn alone must content us;

  11 lines
• Minstrel's Book - Talismans

  GOD is of the east possess'd,
  God is ruler of the west;

  14 lines
• Minstrel's Book - The Four Favours

  THAT Arabs through the realms of space
  May wander on, light-hearted,

  12 lines
• Minstrel's Book - Discord

  WHEN by the brook his strain
  Cupid is fluting,

  16 lines
• Minstrel's Book - Song And Structure

  LET the Greek his plastic clay
  Mould in human fashion,

  12 lines
• Book Of Hafis - The Unlimited

  THAT thou can't never end, doth make thee great,
  And that thou ne'er beginnest, is thy fate.

  20 lines
• Book Of Hafis - To Hafis

  HAFIS, straight to equal thee,
  One would strive in vain;

  16 lines
• Book Of Love - The Types

  LIST, and in memory bear
  These six fond loving pair.

  16 lines, 1 comment
• Book Of Love - One More Pair

  LOVE is indeed a glorious prize!
  What fairer guerdon meets our eyes?--

  12 lines
• Book Of Love - Love's Torments

  LOVE's torments sought a place of rest,
  Where all might drear and lonely be;

  4 lines
• Book Of Contemplation - Five Things

  WHAT makes time short to me?
  Activity!

  10 lines, 1 comment
• Book Of Contemplation - For Woman

  FOR woman due allowance make!
  Form'd of a crooked rib was she,--

  8 lines
• Book Of Contemplation - Firdusi

  OH world, with what baseness and guilt thou art rife!
  Thou nurtures, trainest, and illest the while.

  4 lines
• Book Of Contemplation - Suleika

  THE mirror tells me, I am fair!
  Thou sayest, to grow old my fate will be.

  4 lines
• Book Of Gloom

  IT is a fault oneself to praise,
  And yet 'tis done by each whose deeds are kind;

  8 lines
• Book Of Proverbs

  CALL on the present day and night for nought,
  Save what by yesterday was brought.

  96 lines
• Book Of Timur - The Winter And Timur

  So the winter now closed round them
  With resistless fury. Scattering

  33 lines
• Book Of Timur - To Suleika

  FITTING perfumes to prepare,
  And to raise thy rapture high,

  16 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Suleika's Love

  ONCE, methought, in the night hours cold,
  That I saw the moon in my sleep;

  14 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Hatem 01

  NOT occasion makes the thief;
  She's the greatest of the whole;

  12 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Suleika 01

  THE sun appears! A glorious sight!
  The crescent-moon clings round him now.

  9 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Love For Love

  LOVE for love, and moments sweet,
  Lips returning kiss for kiss,

  9 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Hatem 02

  O, SAY, 'neath what celestial sign
  The day doth lie,

  8 lines
• Book Of Suleika - Hatem 03

  HOLD me, locks, securely caught
  In the circle of her face!

  16 lines
• Book Of Suleika - The Loving One Speaks

  THE LOVING ONE SPEAKS.
  AND wherefore sends not

  19 lines

• By me, right now

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