The Poems of Goethe Part 128

I the present needs must fear.

When the still-unfas.h.i.+on'd earth

Lay on G.o.d's eternal breast, He ordain'd its hour of birth,

With creative joy possess'd.

Then a heavy sigh arose,

When He spake the sentence:--"Be!"

And the All, with mighty throes,

Burst into reality.

And when thus was born the light,

Darkness near it fear'd to stay, And the elements with might

Fled on every side away; Each on some far-distant trace,

Each with visions wild employ, Numb, in boundless realm of s.p.a.ce,

Harmony and feeling-void.

Dumb was all, all still and dead,

For the first time, G.o.d alone!

Then He form'd the morning-red,

Which soon made its kindness known: It unravelled from the waste,

Bright and glowing harmony, And once more with love was grac'd

What contended formerly.

And with earnest, n.o.ble strife,

Each its own Peculiar sought; Back to full, unbounded life

Sight and feeling soon were brought.

Wherefore, if 'tis done, explore

How? why give the manner, name?

Allah need create no more,

We his world ourselves can frame.

So, with morning pinions bright,

To thy mouth was I impell'd; Stamped with thousand seals by night,

Star-clear is the bond fast held.

Paragons on earth are we

Both of grief and joy sublime, And a second sentence:--"Be!"

Parts us not a second time.

1815.

----- SULEIKA.

WITH what inward joy, sweet lay,

I thy meaning have descried!

Lovingly thou seem'st to say

That I'm ever by his side;

That he ever thinks of me,

That he to the absent gives All his love's sweet ecstasy,

While for him alone she lives.

Yes, the mirror which reveals

Thee, my loved one, is my breast; This the bosom, where thy seals

Endless kisses have impress'd.

Numbers sweet, unsullied truth,

Chain me down in sympathy!

Love's embodied radiant youth,

In the garb of poesy!

1819.*

----- IN thousand forms mayst thou attempt surprise,

Yet, all-beloved-one, straight know I thee; Thou mayst with magic veils thy face disguise,

And yet, all-present-one, straight know I thee.

Upon the cypress' purest, youthful bud,

All-beauteous-growing-one, straight know I thee; In the ca.n.a.l's unsullied, living flood,

All-captivating-one, well know I thee.