46
POEMS OF GOETHE
WITH A GOLDEN NECKLACE.
Accept, dear maid, this little token,
A supple chain that fain would lie,
And keep its tiny links unbroken
Upon a neck of ivory.
Pray, then, exalt it to this duty,
And change its humbleness to pride;
By day it will adorn your beauty,
By night 'tis quickly laid aside.
But if another hand should proffer
A chain of weightier, closer kind,
Think twice ere you accept the offer;
For there are chains will not unbind.
MAY SONG.
How gloriously gleameth
All nature to me!
How bright the sun beameth,
How fresh is the lea!
White blossoms are bursting
The thickets among,
And all the gay greenwood
Is ringing with song!
There's radiance and rapture
That nought can destroy,
O earth, in thy sunshine,
O heart, in thy joy!
