Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
THE CHRISTMAS-BOX
THIS box, mine own sweet darling, thou wilt find With many a varied sweetmeat’s form supplied; The fruits are they of holy Christmas tide, But baked indeed, for children’s use design’d. I’d fain, in
LIKE AND LIKE
A FAIR bell-flower Sprang tip from the ground; And early its fragrance It shed all around; A bee came thither And sipp’d from its bell; That they for each other Were made, we see
WHEN THE FOX DIES, HIS SKIN COUNTS.*
(* The name of a game, known in English as “Jack’s Alight.”) WE young people in the shade Sat one sultry day; Cupid came, and “Dies the Fox” With us sought to play. Each
IN SUMMER
How plain and height With dewdrops are bright! How pearls have crown’d The plants all around! How sighs the breeze Thro’ thicket and trees! How loudly in the sun’s clear rays The sweet birds
Trilogy of Passion: III. ATONEMENT
[Composed, when 74 years old, for a Polish lady, who excelled in Playing on the pianoforte.] PASSION brings reason who can pacify An anguish’d heart whose loss hath been so great? Where are the
THE WANDERER'S NIGHT-SONG
THOU who comest from on high, Who all woes and sorrows stillest, Who, for twofold misery, Hearts with twofold balsam fillest, Would this constant strife would cease! What are pain and rapture now? Blissful
THREATENING SIGNS
IF Venus in the evening sky Is seen in radiant majesty, If rod-like comets, red as blood, Are ‘mongst the constellations view’d, Out springs the Ignoramus, yelling: “The star’s exactly o’er my dwelling! What
WINTER JOURNEY OVER THE HARTZ MOUNTAINS
[The following explanation is necessary, in order To make this ode in any way intelligible. The Poet is supposed to Leave his companions, who are proceeding on a hunting expedition In winter, in order
THE DANCE OF DEATH
THE warder looks down at the mid hour of night, On the tombs that lie scatter’d below: The moon fills the place with her silvery light, And the churchyard like day seems to glow.
SUCH, SUCH IS HE WHO PLEASETH ME
FLY, dearest, fly! He is not nigh! He who found thee one fair morn in Spring In the wood where thou thy flight didst wing. Fly, dearest, fly! He is not nigh! Never rests
THE FISHERMAN
THE waters rush’d, the waters rose, A fisherman sat by, While on his line in calm repose He cast his patient eye. And as he sat, and hearken’d there, The flood was cleft in
THE SAME, EXPANDED
IF thou wouldst 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,
THE SEA-VOYAGE
MANY a day and night my bark stood ready laden; Waiting fav’ring winds, I sat with true friends round me, Pledging me to patience and to courage, In the haven. And they spoke thus
THE MOUNTAIN CASTLE
THERE stands on yonder high mountain A castle built of yore, Where once lurked horse and horseman In rear of gate and of door. Now door and gate are in ashes, And all around
EPITAPH
As a boy, reserved and naughty; As a youth, a coxcomb and haughty; As a man, for action inclined; As a greybeard, fickle in mind. Upon thy grave will people read: This was a