Living

Ye've often, for our drunkenness

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

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

Living

YE'VE often, for our drunkenness,
Blamed us in ev'ry way,
And, in abuse of drunkenness,

Enough can never say.
Men, overcome by drunkenness,

Are wont to lie till day;
And yet I find my drunkenness

All night-time make me stray;
For, oh! 'tis Love's sweet drunkenness

That maketh me its prey,
Which night and day, and day and night,

My heart must needs obey,--
A heart that, in its drunkenness,

Pours forth full many a lay,
So that no trifling drunkenness

Can dare assert its sway.
Love, song, and wine's sweet drunkenness,

By night-time and by day,--
How god-like is the drunkenness
That maketh me its prey!

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Ye've often, for our drunkenness.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/375/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Ye've often, for our drunkenness.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/375/.

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