Love

The Rose

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by James Clarence Mangan (1845) · From Poems, ed. John Mitchel (New York, 1859)

Love

ONCE a boy beheld a bright
Rose in dingle growing;
Far, far off it pleased his sight;
Near he viewed it with delight:

Soft it seemed and glowing.
Lo! the rose, the rose so bright,

Rose so brightly blowing!

Spake the boy, "I'll pluck thee, grand

Rose all wildly blowing."
Spake the rose, " I'll wound thy hand,
Thus the scheme thy wit hath planned

Deftly overthrowing."
O! the rose, the rose so grand,

Rose so grandly glowing.

But the stripling plucked the red

Rose in glory growing,
And the thorn MsflesJi hath ~bled,
And the rose's pride is fled,

And her beauty '« going.
Woe! the rose, the rose once red

Rose once redly glowing.

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Rose.” Translated by James Clarence Mangan. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/391/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Rose.” Translated by James Clarence Mangan. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/391/.

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