MAHOMET'S SONG.
[This song was intended to be introduced in a dramatic poem entitled "Mahomet," the plan of which was not carried out by Goethe. He mentions that it was to have been sung by Ali toward the end of the piece, in honour of his master, Mahomet, shortly before his death, and when at the height of his glory, of which it is typical.]
See the rock-born stream!
Like the gleam
Of a star so bright!
Kindly spirits
High above the clouds
Nourished him while youthful
In the copse between the cliffs.
Young and fresh,
From the clouds he danceth
Down upon the marble rocks;
Then toward heaven
Leaps exulting.
Through the mountain-passes
Chaseth he the coloured pebbles,
And, advancing like a chief,
Tears his brother streamlets with him
In his course.
In the valley down below
'Neath his footsteps spring the flowers,
And the meadow
In his breath finds life.
Yet no shady vale can stay him,
