The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original MetresGoethe, Johann Wolfgang von
General
The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original Metres
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
German poetry -- Translations into English; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832 -- Translations into English
1817.*
(+ Brown maid is the Queen of Sheba.)
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ONE PAIR MORE.
LOVE is indeed a glorious prize!
What fairer guerdon meets our eyes?--
Though neither wealth nor power are thine,
A very hero thou dost shine.
As of the prophet, they will tell,
Wamik and Asia's tale as well.--
They'll tell not of them,--they'll but give
Their names, which now are all that live.
The deeds they did, the toils they proved
No mortal knows! But that they loved
This know we. Here's the story true
Of Wamik and of Asia too.
1827.*
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LOVE's torments sought a place of rest,
Where all might drear and lonely be;
They found ere long my desert breast,
And nestled in its vacancy.
1827.*
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IV. TEFKIR NAME.
BOOK OF CONTEMPLATION.
FIVE THINGS.
WHAT makes time short to me?
Activity!
What makes it long and spiritless?
'Tis idleness!
What brings us to debt?
To delay and forget!
What makes us succeed?
Decision with speed
How to fame to ascend?
Oneself to defend!
1814
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FOR woman due allowance make!
Form'd of a crooked rib was she,--
By Heaven she could not straightened be.
Attempt to bend her, and she'll break;
If left alone, more crooked grows madam;
What well could be worse, my good friend, Adam?--
For woman due allowance make;
'Twere grievous, if thy rib should break!
1819.*
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FIRDUSI (Speaks).
OH world, with what baseness and guilt thou art rife!
Thou nurtures, trainest, and illest the while.
He only whom Allah doth bless with his smile
Is train'd and is nurtured with riches and life.
1819.*
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SULEIKA (Speaks).
THE mirror tells me, I am fair!
Thou sayest, to grow old my fate will be.
Nought in God's presence changeth e'er,--
Love him, for this one moment, then, in me.
1819.*
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V. RENDSCH NAME
BOOK OF GLOOM.
IT is a fault oneself to praise,
And yet 'tis done by each whose deeds are kind;
And if there's no deceit in what he says,
The good we still as good shall find.
Let, then, ye fools, that wise man taste
Of joy, who fancies that he s wise,
That he, a fool like you, may waste
Th' insipid thanks the world supplies.
1816.
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VI. HIKMET NAME.
BOOK OF PROVERBS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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