Love
Suleika: With what inward joy, sweet lay
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From West-Eastern Divan
WITH what inward joy, sweet lay,
I thy meaning have descried!
Lovingly thou seem'st to say
That I'm ever by his side;
That he ever thinks of me,
That he to the absent gives
All his love's sweet ecstasy,
While for him alone she lives.
Yes, the mirror which reveals
Thee, my loved one, is my breast;
This the bosom, where thy seals
Endless kisses have impress'd.
Numbers sweet, unsullied truth,
Chain me down in sympathy!
Love's embodied radiant youth,
In the garb of poesy!
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Suleika: With what inward joy, sweet lay.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/372/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Suleika: With what inward joy, sweet lay.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/372/.
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