The Poems of Goethe Part 103

Kindly intercourse sprang, slowly unfolding its leaves; Soon how friends.h.i.+p with might unveil'd itself in our bosoms,

And how Amor, at length, brought forth blossom and fruit Think of the manifold ways wherein Nature hath lent to our feelings,

Silently giving them birth, either the first or the last!

Yes, and rejoice in the present day! For love that is holy

Seeketh the n.o.blest of fruits,--that where the thoughts are the same, Where the opinions agree,--that the pair may, in rapt contemplation,

Lovingly blend into one,--find the more excellent world.

1797.

PROVERBS.

----- '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,

Yet a heap of dead is ne'er form'd.

----- WHAT harm has thy poor mirror done, alas?

Look not so ugly, prythee, in the gla.s.s!

1815.*

----- TAME XENIA.

THE Epigrams bearing the t.i.tle 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.

G.o.d gave to mortals birth,

In his own image too; Then came Himself to earth,

A mortal kind and true.

1821.*

----- BARBARIANS oft endeavour

G.o.ds for themselves to make But they're more hideous ever

Than dragon or than snake.

1821.*

----- WHAT shall I teach thee, the very first thing?-- Fain would I learn o'er my shadow to spring!

1827.*

----- "WHAT is science, rightly known?

'Tis the strength of life alone.

Life canst thou engender never, Life must be life's parent ever.

1827.*

----- It matters not, I ween,

Where worms our friends consume, Beneath the turf so green,

Or 'neath a marble tomb.

Remember, ye who live,

Though frowns the fleeting day, That to your friends ye give

What never will decay.

1827.*

RELIGION AND CHURCH.

----- THOUGHTS ON JESUS CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO h.e.l.l.

[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 t.i.tle of Religion and Church are polemical, and devoid of interest to the English reader.]

WHAT wondrous noise is heard around!

Through heaven exulting voices sound,

A mighty army marches on By thousand millions follow'd, lo, To yon dark place makes haste to go

G.o.d's Son, descending from His throne!

He goes--the tempests round Him break,

As Judge and Hero cometh He; He goes--the constellations quake,

The sun, the world quake fearfully.

I see Him in His victor-car, On fiery axles borne afar,

Who on the cross for us expired.

The triumph to yon realms He shows,-- Remote from earth, where star ne'er glows,

The triumph He for us acquired.

He cometh, h.e.l.l to extirpate,

Whom He, by dying, wellnigh kill'd; He shall p.r.o.nounce her fearful fate

Hark! now the curse is straight fulfill'd.

h.e.l.l sees the victor come at last, She feels that now her reign is past,