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Rendsch Nameh. - 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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Rendsch Nameh.

BOOK OF GLOOM.

    • IT is a fault oneself to praise,
    • And yet ’tis done by each whose deeds are kind;
    • And if there’s no deceit in what he says,
    • The good we still as good shall find.
    • Let, then, ye fools, that wise man taste
    • Of joy, who fancies that he’s wise;
    • That he, a fool like you, may waste
    • Th’ insipid thanks the world supplies.
    • Thou wilt never find a rhymer,
    • His things not the best averring;
    • Nor a fiddler who in playing,
    • His own melodies not preferring.
    • And I cannot blame them harshly:
    • If we give the praise to others,
    • We must lower ourselves to do it,
    • Do we live as live our brothers.
    • So I found it very fitting,
    • In some ante-rooms, bystanders
    • Could not easily distinguish
    • Mouse-dung from the corianders.
    • What has been stirs up vast hatred
    • In new brooms so full of vigor,
    • For they can help the impulse,
    • Acting towards the old with rigor.
    • And when nations come in conflict,
    • Each new schemes of war contriving,
    • Neither of them will acknowledge,
    • Each for one same thing is striving.
    • And men blame their fellows harshly
    • For their brutal selfishness;
    • While themselves cannot endure it
    • If another win success.
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