Living
Joy
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Parables
A DRAGON-FLY with beauteous wing
Is hov'ring o'er a silv'ry spring;
I watch its motions with delight,--
Now dark its colours seem, now bright;
Chameleon-like appear, now blue,
Now red, and now of greenish hue.
Would it would come still nearer me,
That I its tints might better see
It hovers, flutters, resting ne'er!
But hush! it settles on the mead.
I have it safe now, I declare!
And when its form I closely view,
'Tis of a sad and dingy blue--
Such, Joy-Dissector, is thy case indeed
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Joy.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/219/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Joy.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/219/.
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