Love

Suleika: With what inward joy, sweet lay

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From West-Eastern Divan

Love

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!

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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