Love

The Loving One Writes

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Sonnets

Love

THE look that thy sweet eyes on mine impress
The pledge thy lips to mine convey,--the kiss,--

He who, like me, hath knowledge sure of this,
Can he in aught beside find happiness?
Removed from thee, friend-sever'd, in distress,
These thoughts I vainly struggle to dismiss:

They still return to that one hour of bliss,
The only one; then tears my grief confess.
But unawares the tear makes haste to dry:
He loves, methinks, e'en to these glades so still,--
And shalt not thou to distant lands extend?
Receive the murmurs of his loving sigh;
My only joy on earth is in thy will,
Thy kindly will tow'rd me; a token send!

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Loving One Writes.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/188/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Loving One Writes.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/188/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe