Living
Coptic Song (Another)
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Familiar Songs
Living
Go! obedient to my call,
Turn to profit thy young days,
Wiser make betimes thy breast
In Fate's balance as it sways,
Seldom is the cock at rest;
Thou must either mount, or fall,
Thou must either rule and win,
Or submissively give in,
Triumph, or else yield to clamour:
Be the anvil or the hammer.
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Coptic Song (Another).” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/106/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Coptic Song (Another).” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/106/.
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