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SIR CURT’S WEDDING-JOURNEY. - 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.

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SIR CURT’S WEDDING-JOURNEY.

    • WITH a bridegroom’s joyous bearing,
    • Mounts Sir Curt his noble beast,
    • To his mistress’ home repairing,
    • There to hold his wedding-feast;
    • When a threatening foe advances
    • From a desert, rocky spot;
    • For the fray they couch their lances,
    • Not delaying, speaking not.
    • Long the doubtful fight continues,
    • Victory then for Curt declares;
    • Conqueror, though with wearied sinews,
    • Forward on his road he fares.
    • When he sees, though strange it may be,
    • Something ’midst the foliage move;
    • ’Tis a mother, with her baby,
    • Stealing softly through the grove!
    • And upon the spot she beckons—
    • “Wherefore, love, this speed so wild?
    • Of the wealth thy storehouse reckons,
    • Hast thou nought to give thy child!”
    • Flames of rapture now dart through him,
    • And he longs for nothing more,
    • While the mother seemeth to him
    • Lovely as the maid of yore.
    • But he hears his servants blowing,
    • And bethinks him of his bride;
    • And ere long, while onward going,
    • Chances past a fair to ride;
    • In the booths he forthwith buys him
    • For his mistress many a pledge;
    • But, alas! some Jews surprise him,
    • And long-standing debts allege.
    • And the courts of justice duly
    • Send the knight to prison straight.
    • Oh, accursed story, truly!
    • For a hero, what a fate!
    • Can my patience such things weather?
    • Great is my perplexity.
    • Women, debts and foes together,—
    • Ah, no knight escapes scot free!
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