Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/95

Rh

But how comes it then to pass? All this gives no joy, alas!— I was ravished by her sight, By her eyes so fair and bright, By her footstep soft and light. How her peerless charms I praised, When from head to foot I gazed! I am here, she's far away,— I am gone, with her to stay.

If on rugged hills she wander, If she haste the vale along, Pinions seem to flutter yonder, And the air is filled with song; With the glow of youth still playing Joyous vigour in each limb, One in silence is delaying, She alone 'tis blesses him.

Love, thou art too fair, I ween! Fairer I have never seen! From the heart full easily Blooming flowers are culled by thee. If I think: " Oh, were it so," Bone and marrow seem to glow! If rewarded by her love, Can I greater rapture prove?

And still fairer is the bride, When in me she will confide, When she speaks and lets me know All her tale of joy and woe. All her lifetime's history Now is fully known to me. Who in child or woman e'er Soul and body found so fair?