Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/374

340 ELEGIES.ROMAN ELEGIES.

, ye stones, I entreat! Oh, speak, ye palaces lofty! Utter a word, oh, ye streets! Wilt thou not, Genius; awake? All that thy sacred walls, eternal Rome, hold within them Teemeth with life; but to me all is still silent and dead. Oh, who will whisper unto me,—when shall I see at the casement That one beauteous form, which, while it scorcheth, revives? Can I as yet not discern the road, on which I for ever To her and from her shall go, heeding not time as it flies? Still do I mark the churches, palaces, ruins, and columns, As a wise traveller should, would he his journey improve. Soon all this will be past; and then will there be but one temple, Amor's temple alone, where the Initiate may go. Thou art indeed a world, O Rome; and yet were Love absent, Then would the world be no world, then would e'en Rome be no Rome.