Nature

By the River: Flow on, ye lays so loved, so fair

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Songs

Nature

FLOW on, ye lays so loved, so fair,
On to Oblivion's ocean flow!
May no rapt boy recall you e'er,
No maiden in her beauty's glow!
My love alone was then your theme,

But now she scorns my passion true.
Ye were but written in the stream;
As it flows on, then, flow ye too!

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “By the River: Flow on, ye lays so loved, so fair.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/42/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “By the River: Flow on, ye lays so loved, so fair.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/42/.

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