Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
August 28, 1749 - March 22, 1832
Calm At Sea
Silence deep rules o'er the waters,
Calmly slumb'ring lies the main,
While the sailor views with trouble
Nought 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.
May
Light and silv'ry cloudlets hover
In the air, as yet scarce warm;
Mild, with glimmer soft tinged over,
Peeps the sun through fragrant balm.
Gently rolls and heaves the ocean
As its waves the bank o'erflow.
And with restless motion
Moves the verdure to and fro,
Mirror'd brightly far below.
What is now the foliage moving?
Air is still, and hush'd the breeze,
Sultriness, this fullness loving,
Through the thicket, from the trees.
Now the eye at once gleams brightly,
See! the infant band with mirth
Moves and dances nimbly, lightly,
As the morning gave it birth,
Flutt'ring two and two o'er earth.
The Violet
A violet in the meadow grew,
Bowed to earth, and hid from view:
It was a dear sweet violet.
Along came a young shepherdess
Free of heart, and light of step,
Came by, came by,
Singing, through the flowers.
Oh! Thought the violet, were I,
If only for a little while,
Nature’s sweetest flower yet,
Till my Beloved picked me, pressed
Me fainting, dying to her breast!
So I might lie,
There, for but an hour!
Alas! Alas! The girl went past:
Unseen the violet in the grass,
Was crushed, poor violet.
It drooped and died, and yet it cried:
‘And though I die, yet still I die
By her, by her,
By her feet passing by.’
The Artist’s Evening Song
Oh, for some inner creative force
Through my mind, echoing!
That through my hands might course
A sap-filled blossoming.
I only shudder, I only stutter,
And yet can’t halt: at last,
I feel I know you, Nature,
And must hold you fast.
When I think how all these years
My powers have been growing,
And where barren heath appeared
Now streams of joy are flowing:
How I yearn for you, Nature, then,
And long for you, with faith and love!
For me you’ll be the leaping fountain,
A thousand springs will hurl above.
And every single power
In my mind you’ll heighten,
And this narrow being-here
To Eternity you’ll widen.
To The Moon (Final Version)
Bushes, valleys, silently,
You fill with misty light,
Easing my soul utterly
Again, at last, at night:
Soothingly you cast your gaze
Over a dark country,
As gentle and friendly eyes
Guard my destiny.
Glad, and troubled, times
Echo in my heart,
I walk between pain and delight,
In solitude, apart.
Flow on, beloved flood: flow on!
I’ll never know joy again,
Laughter and kisses, both are gone,
And loyalty flows away.
There was a time I had as yet
Life’s most precious thing!
Ah, a man can never forget
That which torments him!
River, through the valley, murmur,
Without rest or peace,
For my singing, gently whisper,
Murmuring melodies,
When you rage on winter nights
And then overflow,
Or when around the Spring’s delights
Of bursting buds, you go.
Happy are we if, without hate,
Hidden from the world,
We hold a friend to our heart
And with him explore
What, unknown to all their art,
Ignored, by all mankind,
Through the labyrinth of the heart
Wanders in the night.
--Cat
