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THE PARIAH. The Pariah’s Prayer. - 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 PARIAH.

The Pariah’s Prayer.

    • DREADED Brama, lord of might!
    • All proceed from thee alone;
    • Thou art he who judgeth right!
    • Dost thou none but Brahmins own?
    • Do but Rajahs come from thee?
    • None but those of high estate?
    • Didst not thou the ape create,
    • Aye, and even such as we?
    • We are not of noble kind,
    • For with woe our lot is rife;
    • And what others deadly find
    • Is our only source of life.
    • Let this be enough for men,
    • Let them, if they will, despise us;
    • But thou, Brama, thou should’st prize us,
    • All are equal in thy ken.
    • Now that, Lord, this prayer is said,
    • As thy child acknowledge me;
    • Or let one be born instead,
    • Who may link me on to thee!
    • Didst not thou a Bayadere
    • As a goddess heavenward raise?
    • And we too, to swell thy praise,
    • Such a miracle would hear.