Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow GENERAL CONFESSION. - Goethe's Works, vol. 1 (Poems)

Return to Title Page for Goethe’s Works, vol. 1 (Poems)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Literature

GENERAL CONFESSION. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe’s Works, vol. 1 (Poems) [1885]

Edition used:

Goethe’s Works, illustrated by the best German artists, 5 vols. (Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1885). Vol. 1.

Part of: Goethe’s Works, 5 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


GENERAL CONFESSION.

    • IN this noble ring to-day
    • Let my warning shame ye!
    • Listen to my solemn voice,—
    • Seldom does it name ye.
    • Many a thing have ye intended,
    • Many a thing have badly ended,
    • And now I must blame ye.
    • At some moment in our lives
    • We must all repent us!
    • So confess, with pious trust,
    • All your sins momentous!
    • Error’s crooked pathways shunning,
    • Let us, on the straight road running,
    • Honestly content us!
    • Yes! we’ve oft, when waking, dream’d,
    • Let’s confess it rightly;
    • Left undrain’d the brimming cup,
    • When it sparkl’d brightly;
    • Many a shepherd’s-hour’s soft blisses,
    • Many a dear mouth’s flying kisses
    • We’ve neglected lightly.
    • Mute and silent have we sat,
    • Whilst the blockheads prated,
    • And above e’en song divine
    • Have their babblings rated;
    • To account we’ve even call’d us
    • For the moments that enthrall’d us,
    • With enjoyment freighted.
    • If thou’lt absolution grant
    • To thy true ones ever,
    • We, to execute thy will,
    • Ceaseless will endeavor,
    • From half-measures strive to wean us,
    • Wholly, fairly, well demean us,
    • Resting, flagging never.
    • At all blockheads we’ll at once
    • Let our laugh ring clearly,
    • And the pearly-foaming wine
    • Never sip at merely.
    • Ne’er with eye alone give kisses,
    • But with boldness suck in blisses
    • From those lips lov’d dearly.