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BETROTHED. - 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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BETROTHED.

    • I SLEPT,—’twas midnight,—in my bosom woke,
    • As though ’twere day, my love-o’erflowing heart;
    • To me it seem’d like night when day first broke;
    • What is’t to me, whate’er it may impart?
    • She was away; the world’s unceasing strife
    • For her alone I suffer’d through the heat
    • Of sultry day. Oh, what refreshing life
    • At cooling eve!—my guerdon was complete.
    • The sun now set, and wand’ring hand in hand
    • His last and blissful look we greeted then;
    • While spake our eyes, as they each other scann’d:
    • “From the far east, let’s trust, he’ll come again!”
    • At midnight!—the bright stars in vision bless’d
    • Guide to the threshold where she slumbers calm:
    • Oh, be it mine, there too at length to rest,—
    • Yet howsoe’er this prove, life’s full of charm!