The Poems of Goethe Part 26

Hallo there! A gla.s.s!

Ha! the draught's truly sweet If thou keepest thy shoes,

Thou wilt then spare thy feet.

A maiden and wine,

With sweet music and song, On pavement, are thine,

All life's journey along!

----- THE FREEBOOTER,

No door has my house,

No house has my door; And in and out ever

I carry my store.

No grate has my kitchen,

No kitchen my grate; Yet roasts it and boils it

Both early and late.

My bed has no trestles,

My trestles no bed; Yet merrier moments

No mortal e'er led.

My cellar is lofty,

My barn is full deep, From top to the bottom,--

There lie I and sleep.

And soon as I waken,

All moves on its race; My place has no fixture,

My fixture no place.

1827.*

----- JOY AND SORROW.

As a fisher-boy I fared

To the black rock in the sea, And, while false gifts I prepared.

Listen'd and sang merrily, Down descended the decoy,

Soon a fish attack'd the bait; One exultant shout of joy,--

And the fish was captured straight.

Ah! on sh.o.r.e, and to the wood

Past the cliffs, o'er stock and stone, One foot's traces I pursued,

And the maiden was alone.

Lips were silent, eyes downcast

As a clasp-knife snaps the bait, With her snare she seized me fast,

And the boy was captured straight.

Heav'n knows who's the happy swain

That she rambles with anew!

I must dare the sea again,

Spite of wind and weather too.

When the great and little fish

Wail and flounder in my net, Straight returns my eager wish

In her arms to revel yet!

1815.

----- MARCH.

THE snow-flakes fall in showers,

The time is absent still, When all Spring's beauteous flowers, When all Spring's beauteous flowers

Our hearts with joy shall fill.

With l.u.s.tre false and fleeting

The sun's bright rays are thrown; The swallow's self is cheating: The swallow's self is cheating,

And why? He comes alone!

Can I e'er feel delighted

Alone, though Spring is near?

Yet when we are united, Yet when we are united,