Nature
Premature Spring
Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Songs
DAYS full of rapture,
Are ye renew'd ?--
Smile in the sunlight
Mountain and wood?
Streams richer laden
Flow through the dale,
Are these the meadows?
Is this the vale?
Coolness cerulean!
Heaven and height!
Fish crowd the ocean,
Golden and bright.
Birds of gay plumage
Sport in the grove,
Heavenly numbers
Singing above.
Under the verdure's
Vigorous bloom,
Bees, softly bumming,
Juices consume.
Gentle disturbance
Quivers in air,
Sleep-causing fragrance,
Motion so fair.
Soon with more power
Rises the breeze,
Then in a moment
Dies in the trees.
But to the bosom
Comes it again.
Aid me, ye Muses,
Bliss to sustain!
Say what has happen'd
Since yester e'en?
Oh, ye fair sisters,
Her I have seen!
Cite this poem
MLA
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Premature Spring.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/56/.
Chicago
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “Premature Spring.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/56/.
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