Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/298

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POEMS OF GOETHE

GROWTH.

O'er field and plain, in childhood's artless days,
Thou sprangest with me on many a spring-morn fair,
"For such a daughter, with what pleasing care,
Would I, as father, happy dwellings raise?"

And when thou on the world didst cast thy gaze,
Thy joy was then in household toils to share.
"Why did I trust her, why she trust me e'er?
For such a sister, how I Heaven should praise!"

Nothing can now the beauteous growth retard;
Love's glowing flame within my breast is fanned.
Shall I embrace her form, my grief to end?
Thee as a queen must I, alas, regard:
So high above me placed thou seemest to stand;
Before a passing look I meekly bend.


FOOD IN TRAVEL.

If to her eyes bright lustre I were blind,
No longer would they serve my life to gild.
The will of destiny must be fulfilled,—
This knowing, I withdrew with saddened mind,

No further happiness I now could find;
The former longings of my heart were stilled,
I sought her looks alone, whereon to build
My joy in life—all else was left behind.

Wine's genial glow, the festal banquet gay,
Ease, sleep, and friends, all wonted pleasures glad

I spurned, till little there remained to prove.