Love

The Maiden Speaks

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Sonnets

Love

How grave thou loookest, loved one! wherefore so?
Thy marble image seems a type of thee;

Like it, no sign of life thou giv'st to me;
Compared with thee, the stone appears to glow.
Behind his shield in ambush lurks the foe,
The friend's brow all-unruffled we should see.

I seek thee, but thou seek'st away to flee;
Fix'd as this sculptured figure, learn to grow!
Tell me, to which should I the preference pay?
Must I from both with coldness meet alone?
The one is lifeless, thou with life art blest.
In short, no longer to throw words away,
I'll fondy kiss and kiss and kiss this stone,
Till thou dost tear me hence with envious breast.

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Maiden Speaks.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/184/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Maiden Speaks.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/184/.

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