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THE TRAVELLER AND THE FARM-MAIDEN. - 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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THE TRAVELLER AND THE FARM-MAIDEN.

    • He.
    • CANST thou give, oh, fair and matchless maiden,
    • ’Neath the shadow of the lindens yonder,—
    • Where I’d fain one moment cease to wander,
    • Food and drink to one so heavy laden?
    • She.
    • Would’st thou find refreshment, traveller weary,
    • Bread, ripe fruit and cream to meet thy wishes,—
    • None but Nature’s plain and homely dishes,—
    • Near the spring may soothe thy wanderings dreary.
    • He.
    • Dreams of old acquaintance now pass through me,
    • Ne’er-forgotten queen of hours of blisses:
    • Likenesses I’ve often found, but this is
    • One that quite a marvel seemeth to me!
    • She.
    • Travellers often wonder beyond measure,
    • But their wonder soon see cause to smother;
    • Fair and dark are often like each other,
    • Both inspire the mind with equal pleasure.
    • He.
    • Not now for the first time I surrender
    • To this form, in humble adoration;
    • It was brightest midst the constellation
    • In the hall adorn’d with festal splendor.
    • She.
    • Be thou joyful that ’tis in my power
    • To complete thy strange and merry story!
    • Silks behind her, full of purple glory,
    • Floated, when thou saw’st her in that hour.
    • He.
    • No, in truth, thou hast not sung it rightly!
    • Spirits may have told thee all about it;
    • Pearls and gems they spoke of, do not doubt it,—
    • By her gaze eclips’d,—it gleam’d so brightly!
    • She.
    • This one thing I certainly collected:
    • That the fair one—(say nought, I entreat thee!)
    • Fondly hoping once again to meet thee,
    • Many a castle in the air erected.
    • He.
    • By each wind I ceaselessly was driven,
    • Seeking gold and honor, too, to capture!
    • When my wand’rings end, then oh, what rapture,
    • If to find that form again ’tis given!
    • She.
    • ’Tis the daughter of the race now banish’d
    • That thou seest, not her likeness only;
    • Helen and her brother, glad though lonely,
    • Till this farm of their estate now vanish’d.
    • He.
    • But the owner surely is not wanting
    • Of these plains, with ev’ry beauty teeming?
    • Verdant fields, broad meads, and pastures gleaming,
    • Gushing springs, all heav’nly and enchanting.
    • She.
    • Thou must hunt the world through, would’st thou find him!—
    • We have wealth enough in our possession,
    • And intend to purchase the succession,
    • When the good man leaves the world behind him.
    • He.
    • I have learn’d the owrer’s own condition,
    • And, fair maiden, thou indeed canst buy it;
    • But the cost is great, I won’t deny it,—
    • Helen is the price,—with thy permission!
    • She.
    • Did then fate and rank keep us asunder,
    • And must Love take this road, and no other?
    • Yonder comes my dear and trusty brother;
    • What will he say to it all, I wonder?