Love
Departure
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Sonnets
WITH many a thousand kiss not yet content,
At length with One kiss I was forced to go;
After that bitter parting's depth of woe,
I deem'd the shore from which my steps I bent,
Its hills, streams, dwellings, mountains, as I went,
A pledge of joy, till daylight ceased to glow;
Then on my sight did blissful visions grow
In the dim-lighted, distant firmament,
And when at length the sea confined my gaze,
My ardent longing fill'd my heart once more;
What I had lost, unwillingly I sought.
Then Heaven appear'd to shed its kindly rays:
Methought that all I had possess'd of yore
Remain'd still mine--that I was reft of nought.
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Departure.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/187/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Departure.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/187/.
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