Love
Happiness and Vision
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Songs
TOGETHER at the altar we
In vision oft were seen by thee,
Thyself as bride, as bridegroom I.
Oft from thy mouth full many a kiss
In an unguarded hour of bliss
I then would steal, while none were by.
The purest rapture we then knew,
The joy those happy hours gave too,
When tasted, fled, as time fleets on.
What now avails my joy to me?
Like dreams the warmest kisses flee,
Like kisses, soon all joys are gone.
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Happiness and Vision.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/28/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Happiness and Vision.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/28/.
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