IF Venus in the evening skyIs 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 woeful prospect, ah, for me!Then calls his neighbour mournfully:“Behold that awful sign of evil,Portending woe to me, poor devil!My mother’s asthma ne’er will leave her,My child is […]

I. A MASTER of a country schoolJump’d up one day from off his stool,Inspired with firm resolve to tryTo gain the best society;So to the nearest baths he walk’d,And into the saloon he stalk’d.He felt quite. startled at the door,Ne’er having seen the like before.To the first stranger made he nowA very low and graceful […]

I ONCE was fond of fools, And bid them come each day;Then each one brought his tools The carpenter to play;The roof to strip first choosing, Another to supply,The wood as trestles using, To move it by-and-by,While here and there they ran, And knock’d against each other;To fret I soon began, My anger could not […]

WHAT time our Lord still walk’d the earth,Unknown, despised, of humble birth,And on Him many a youth attended(His words they seldom comprehended),It ever seem’d to Him most meetTo hold His court in open street,As under heaven’s broad canopyOne speaks with greater liberty.The teachings of His blessed wordFrom out His holy mouth were heard;Each market to […]

(This fine poem is given by Goethe amongst a small collection of what he calls Loge (Lodge), meaning thereby Masonic pieces.) THE mason’s tradeResembles life,With all its strife,Is like the stir madeBy man on earth’s face.Though weal and woeThe future may hide,UnterrifiedWe onward goIn ne’er changing race.A veil of dreadHangs heavier still.Deep slumbers fillThe stars […]

‘TIS easier far a wreath to bind,Than a good owner fort to find. —–I KILL’D a thousand flies overnight,Yet was waken’d by one, as soon as twas light. —–To the mother I give;For the daughter I live. —–A BREACH is every day, By many a mortal storm’d;Let them fall in the gaps as they may, […]

THE Epigrams bearing the title of XENIA were written by Goethe and Schiller together, having been first occasioned by some violent attacks made on them by some insignificant writers. They are extremely numerous, but scarcely any of them could be translated into English. Those here given are merely presented as a specimen. GOD gave to […]

[THE remarkable Poem of which this is a literal but faint representation, was written when Goethe was only sixteen years old. It derives additional interest from the fact of its being the very earliest piece of his that is preserved. The few other pieces included by Goethe under the title of Religion and Church are […]

WHEN the primevalAll-holy FatherSows with a tranquil handFrom clouds, as they roll,Bliss-spreading lightningsOver the earth,Then do I kiss the lastHem of his garment,While by a childlike aweFiil’d is my breast. For with immortalsNe’er may a mortalMeasure himself.If he soar upwardsAnd if he touchWith his forehead the stars,Nowhere will rest thenHis insecure feet,And with him sportTempest […]

IN search of prey once raised his pinionsAn eaglet;A huntsman’s arrow came, and reftHis right wing of all motive power.Headlong he fell into a myrtle grove,For three long days on anguish fed,In torment writhedThroughout three long, three weary nights;And then was cured,Thanks to all-healing Nature’sSoft, omnipresent balm.He crept away from out the copse,And stretch’d his […]

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 with impatience twofold:“Gladly pray we for thy rapid passage,Gladly for thy happy voyage; fortuneIn the distant world is waiting for thee,In our arms thoult […]

[written in a post-chaise.] (* In the original, Schwager, which has the twofold meaning of brother-in-law and postilion.) HASTEN thee, Kronos!On with clattering trotDownhill goeth thy path;Loathsome dizziness ever,When thou delayest, assails me.Quick, rattle along,Over stock and stone let thy trotInto life straightway lead Now once moreUp the toilsome ascentHasten, panting for breath!Up, then, nor […]

SAY, which ImmortalMerits the highest reward?With none contend I,But I will give itTo the aye-changing,Ever-movingWondrous daughter of Jove.His best-beloved offspring.Sweet Phantasy. For unto herHath he grantedAll the fancies which erstTo none allow’d heSaving himself;Now he takes his pleasureIn the mad one. She may, crowned with roses,With staff twined round with lilies,Roam thro’ flow’ry valleys,Rule the […]

THE soul of manResembleth water:From heaven it cometh,To heaven it soareth.And then againTo earth descendeth,Changing ever. Down from the loftyRocky wallStreams the bright flood,Then spreadeth gentlyIn cloudy billowsO’er the smooth rock,And welcomed kindly,Veiling, on roams it,Soft murmuring,Tow’rd the abyss. Cliffs projectingOppose its progress,–Angrily foams itDown to the bottom,Step by step. Now, in flat channel,Through the […]

WHO gives himself to solitude, Soon lonely will remain;Each lives, each loves in joyous mood, And leaves him to his pain. Yes! leave me to my grief!Were solitude’s relief E’er granted me, Alone I should not be. A lover steals, on footstep light, To learn if his love’s alone;Thus o’er me steals, by day and […]

My grief no mortals know, Except the yearning!Alone, a prey to woe, All pleasure spurning,Up tow’rds the sky I throw A gaze discerning. He who my love can know Seems ne’er returning;With strange and fiery glow My heart is burning.My grief no mortals know, Except the yearning!

SING no more in mournful tones Of the loneliness of night;For ’tis made, ye beauteous ones, For all social pleasures bright. As of old to man a wife As his better half was given,So the night is half our life, And the fairest under heaven. How can ye enjoy the day, Which obstructs our rapture’s […]

[This fine piece, written originally in 1805, on Schiller’s death, was altered and recast by Goethe in 1815, on the occasion of the performance on the stage of the Song of the Bell. Hence the allusion in the last verse.] To this city joy reveal it! Peace as its first signal peal it! (Song of […]

YE children of mortalsThe deities dread!The mastery hold theyIn hands all-eternal,And use them, unquestioned,What manner they like. Let him fear them doubly,Whom they have uplifted!On cliffs and on clouds, oh,Round tables all-golden,he seats are made ready. When rises contention,The guests are humid downwardsWith shame and dishonorTo deep depths of midnight,And vainly await they,Bound fast in […]

HIS bow and dart bearing,And torch brightly flaring, Dan Cupid on flies;With victory laden,To vanquish each maiden He roguishly tries. Up! up! On! on!His arms rattle loudly,His wings rustle proudly,And flames fill his eyes. Then finds he each bosom Defenseless and bare;They gladly receive him And welcome him there.The point of his arrows He lights […]