Social Commentaries
The Stork's Vocation
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Parables
THE stork who worms and frogs devours
That in our ponds reside,
Why should he dwell on high church-towers,
With which he's not allied?
Incessantly he chatters there,
And gives our ears no rest;
But neither old nor young can dare
To drive him from his nest.
I humbly ask it,--how can he
Give of his title proof,
Save by his happy tendency
To soil the church's roof?
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Stork's Vocation.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/228/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Stork's Vocation.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/228/.
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