Erotica Romana · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
XV
From my side turns, as she goes leaving her hand in my hand. Love in our hearts makes us one, as the genuine need there stays constant; Only returning desire knows oscillation or change. Gently her hand presses mine, now she opens her eyes and is looking Into my own eyes. No--don't. Let my thoughts rest on your form! Please close your eyes. They're inebriation, confusion, they rob me All too soon of the joy quiet reflection affords. Grand are the forms of this body and nobly positioned each member. Had Ariadne lain thus, Theseus never had fled. Only a single kiss for these lips and then, O Theseus, leave her; Look at her eyes--she's awake! Now you're eternally bound. Boy, won't you light me a lamp. "But dear master, there's light in the sky yet. Don't waste your oil and the wick. Don't close the shutters so soon. Only the houses are blocking the sun there, it's not yet the mountains. Until the curfew shall ring, full half an hour must pass." Wretched young fellow, be gone and obey me! My loved one is coming. Lamplight, console me till then, harbinger warm of the night.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.