Heav'nly bread her kisses proved,Glowing as the wine;Almost unto death I loved.
Sun-s appeared to shine In her dazzling charms.
Who hath torn her from mine arms?
Could no magic band Make her in her flight delay?
Say, where now her land?
Where, alas, the way?
1775.
WHEN THE FOX DIES, HIS SKIN COUNTS.
( The name of a game, known in English as "Jack's alight.")WE young people in the shadeSat one sultry day;Cupid came, and "Dies the Fox"
With us sought to play.
Each one of my friends then satBy his mistress dear;Cupid, blowing out the torch,Said: "The taper's here!"Then we quickly sent aroundThe expiring brand;Each one put it hastilyln his neighbour's hand.
Dorilis then gave it me,With a scoffing jest;Sudden into flame it broke,By my fingers press'd.
And it singed my eyes and face,Set my breast on fire;Then above my head the blazeMounted ever higher.
Vain I sought to put it out;
Ever burned the flame;
Stead of dying, soon the FoxLivelier still became.
1770.
THE HEATHROSE.
ONCE a boy a Rosebud spied,Heathrose fair and tender, All array'd in youthful pride,--Quickly to the spot he hied,Ravished by her splendour.
Rosebud, rosebud, rosebud red,Heathrose fair and tender!
Said the boy, "I'll now pick thee,Heathrose fair and tender!"Said the rosebud, "I'll prick thee, So that thou'lt remember me,Ne'er will I surrender!"Rosebud, rosebud, rosebud red,Heathrose fair and tender!
Now the cruel boy must pickHeathrose fair and tender;Rosebud did her best to prick,--Vain 'twas 'gainst her fate to kick--She must needs surrender.
Rosebud, rosebud, rosebud red,Heathrose fair and tender!
1779.
BLINDMAN'S BUFF.
OH, my Theresa dear!
Thine eyes, I greatly fear,Can through the bandage see!
Although thine eyes are bound, By thee I'm quickly found,And wherefore shouldst thou catch but me?
Ere long thou held'st me fast, With arms around me cast,Upon thy breast I fell;Scarce was thy bandage gone, When all my joy was flown,Thou coldly didst the blind repel.
He groped on ev'ry side, His limbs he sorely tried,While scoffs arose all round;If thou no love wilt give, In sadness I shall live,As if mine eyes remain'd still bound.
1770.
CHRISTEL.
My senses ofttimes are oppress'd,Oft stagnant is my blood;But when by Christel's sight I'm blest,I feel my strength renew'd.
I see her here, I see her there,And really cannot tell The manner how, the when, the where,The why I love her well.
If with the merest glance I viewHer black and roguish eyes, And gaze on her black eyebrows too,My spirit upward flies.
Has any one a mouth so sweet,Such love-round cheeks as she?
Ah, when the eye her beauties meet,It ne'er content can be.
And when in airy German danceI clasp her form divine, So quick we whirl, so quick advance,What rapture then like mine!
And when she's giddy, and feels warm,I cradle her, poor thing, Upon my breast, and in mine arm,--I'm then a very king!
And when she looks with love on me,Forgetting all but this, When press'd against my bosom, sheExchanges kiss for kiss, All through my marrow runs a thrill,Runs e'en my foot along!
I feel so well, I feel so ill,I feel so weak, so strong!
Would that such moments ne'er would end!
The day ne'er long I find;
Could I the night too with her spend,E'en that I should not mind.
If she were in mine arms but held,To quench love's thirst I'd try;And could my torments not be quell'd,Upon her breast would die.
1776.
THE COY ONE.
ONE Spring-morning bright and fair,Roam'd a shepherdess and sang;Young and beauteous, free from care,Through the fields her clear notes rang:
So, Ia, Ia! le ralla, &c.
Of his lambs some two or threeThyrsis offer'd for a kiss;First she eyed him roguishly,Then for answer sang but this:
So, Ia, Ia! le ralla, &c.
Ribbons did the next one offer,And the third, his heart so true But, as with the lambs, the scofferLaugh'd at heart and ribbons too,--Still 'twas Ia! le ralla, &c.
1791.
THE CONVERT.
As at sunset I was strayingSilently the wood along, Damon on his flute was playing,And the rocks gave back the song, So la, Ia! &c.
Softly tow'rds him then he drew me;
Sweet each kiss he gave me then!
And I said, "Play once more to me!"
And he kindly play'd again, So la, la! &c.
All my peace for aye has fleeted,All my happiness has flown;Yet my ears are ever greetedWith that olden, blissful tone, So la, la! &c.
1791.
PRESERVATION.
My maiden she proved false to me;
To hate all joys I soon began,Then to a flowing stream I ran,--The stream ran past me hastily.
There stood I fix'd, in mute despair;
My head swam round as in a dream;
I well-nigh fell into the stream, And earth seem'd with me whirling there.
Sudden I heard a voice that cried--I had just turn'd my face from thence--It was a voice to charm each sense:
"Beware, for deep is yonder tide!"
A thrill my blood pervaded now,I look'd and saw a beauteous maidI asked her name--twas Kate, she said--"Oh lovely Kate! how kind art thou!
"From death I have been sav'd by thee,'Tis through thee only that I live;Little 'twere life alone to give, My joy in life then deign to be!"And then I told my sorrows o'er,Her eyes to earth she sweetly threw;I kiss'd her, and she kiss'd me too, And--then I talked of death no more.
1775.
THE MUSES' SON.
[Goethe quotes the beginning of this song in his Autobiography, as expressing the manner in which his poetical effusions used to pour out from him.]
THROUGH field and wood to stray, And pipe my tuneful lay,--'Tis thus my days are pass'd;
And all keep tune with me, And move in harmony,And so on, to the last.
To wait I scarce have power The garden's earliest flower,The tree's first bloom in Spring;They hail my joyous strain,--When Winter comes again,Of that sweet dream I sing.
My song sounds far and near, O'er ice it echoes clear,Then Winter blossoms bright;And when his blossoms fly, Fresh raptures meet mine eye,Upon the well-till'd height.
When 'neath the linden tree, Young folks I chance to see,I set them moving soon;His nose the dull lad curls, The formal maiden whirls,Obedient to my tune.
