The Mind
Second Ode
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Odes
THOU go'st! I murmur--
Go! let me murmur.
Oh, worthy man,
Fly from this land!
Deadly marshes,
Steaming mists of October
Here interweave their currents,
Blending for ever.
Noisome insects
Here are engender'd;
Fatal darkness
Veils their malice.
The fiery-tongued serpent,
Hard by the sedgy bank,
Stretches his pamper'd body,
Caress'd by the sun's bright beams.
Tempt no gentle night-rambles
Under the moon's cold twilight!
Loathsome toads hold their meetings
Yonder at every crossway.
Injuring not,
Fear will they cause thee.
Oh, worthy man,
Fly from this land!
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Second Ode.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/145/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Second Ode.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/145/.
Read this poem with the Codex →