POEMS OF GOETHE
303
WANDERER.
Lo, a mossy architrave is here!
I discern thee, fashioning spirit?
On the stone thou hast impressed thy seal.
WOMAN.
Onward, stranger!
WANDERER.
Over an inscription am I treading!
'Tis effacèd!
Ye are seen no longer,
Words so deeply graven,
Who your master's true devotion
Should have shown to thousand grandsons.
WOMAN.
At these stones why
Start'st thou, stranger?
Many stones are lying yonder
Round my cottage.
WANDERER.
Yonder?
WOMAN.
Through the thicket,
Turning to the left,
Here!
WANDERER.
Ye Muses and ye Graces!