Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/414

380 He was our own! How social, yet how great Seemed in the light of day his noble mind! How was his nature, pleasing yet sedate, Now for glad converse joyously inclined, Then swiftly changing, spirit-fraught, elate, Life's plan with deep-felt meaning it designed, Fruitful alike in counsel and in deed! This have we proved, this tested, in our need.

He was our own! Oh, may that thought so blest O'ercome the voice of wailing and of woe! He might have sought the Lasting, safe at rest In harbour, when the tempest ceased to blow. Meanwhile his mighty spirit onward pressed Where goodness, beauty, truth, for ever grow; And in his rear, in shadowy outline, lay The vulgar, which we all, alas, obey!

Now doth he deck the garden-turret fair Where the stars' language first illumed his soul, As secretly yet clearly through the air On the eterne, the living sense it stole; And to his own, and our great profit, there Exchangeth to the seasons as they roll; Thus nobly doth he vanquish, with renown, The twilight and the night that weigh us down.

Brighter now glowed his cheek, and still more bright, With that unchanging ever-youthful glow,— That courage which o'ercomes, in hard-fought fight, Sooner or later, every earthly foe,— That faith which, soaring to the realms of light, Now boldly presseth on, now bendeth low, So that the good may work, wax, thrive amain. So that the day the noble may attain.