The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original Metres · Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1767-9. ----- TRUE ENJOYMENT.
Gather'd in the early spring. Now no garlands I entwine, Now no roses pluck. for thee, Though 'tis springtime, Fanny mine, Dreary autumn 'tis to me! Now I leave this cottage lowly, Where my love hath made her home, And with silent footstep slowly Through the darksome forest roam, Luna breaks through oaks and bushes, Zephyr hastes her steps to meet, And the waving birch-tree blushes, Scattering round her incense sweet. Grateful are the cooling breezes Of this beauteous summer night, Here is felt the charm that pleases, And that gives the soul delight. Boundless is my joy; yet, Heaven, Willingly I'd leave to thee Thousand such nights, were one given By my maiden loved to me! TOGETHER at the altar we In vision oft were seen by thee, Thyself as bride, as bridegroom I. Oft from thy mouth full many a kiss In an unguarded hour of bliss I then would steal, while none were by. The purest rapture we then knew, The joy those happy hours gave too, When tasted, fled, as time fleets on. What now avails my joy to me? Like dreams the warmest kisses flee, Like kisses, soon all joys are gone.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.