Arts & Sciences
The Muse's Mirror
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Antiques
EARLY one day, the Muse, when eagerly bent on adornment,
Follow'd a swift-running streamlet, the quietest nook by it seeking.
Quickly and noisily flowing, the changeful surface distorted
Ever her moving form; the goddess departed in anger.
Yet the stream call'd mockingly after her, saying: "What, truly!
Wilt thou not view, then, the truth, in my mirror so clearly depicted?"
But she already was far away, on the brink of the ocean,
In her figure rejoicing, and duly arranging her garland.
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Muse's Mirror.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/290/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Muse's Mirror.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/290/.
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