Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/51

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
POEMS OF GOETHE
29

MOTIVES.

If to a girl who loves us truly
Her mother gives instruction duly
In virtue, duty, and what not,—
And if she hearkens ne'er a jot,
But with fresh-strengthened longing flies
To meet our kiss that seems to burn,-
Caprice has just as much concern
As love in her bold enterprise.

But if her mother can succeed
In gaining for her maxims heed,
And softening the girl's heart too,
So that she coyly shuns our view,—
The heart of youth she knows but ill;
For when a maiden is thus stern,
Virtue in truth has less concern
In this, than an inconstant will.


THE LOVELY NIGHT.

From the cot, where softly sleeping
Lies my bosom's love, I go,
And with noiseless footstep creeping,
Thread the dusty wood, when lo!
Bursts the moon through glade and greenwood,
Soft the herald zephyrs play,
And the waving birches sprinkle
Sweetest incense on my way.

How I revel in the coolness
Of this beauteous summer night
Stilly dreaming here the fulness

Of the panting soul's delight!