Showing posts with label Goethe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goethe. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

THE BROTHERS by Goethe

 THE BROTHERS.


Slumber, Sleep — they were two brothers, servants

            To the Gods above ; 

Kind Prometheus lured them downwards, ever fill'd

            with earthly love ;

But what Gods could bear so lightly, press' d too

           hard on men beneath;

Slumber did his brother's duty — Sleep was deepen' d

          Unto Death.

SOLITUDE by Goethe

 SOLITUDE.


Grant, 0 ye healing Nymphs, that have your haunts

By rock and stream and lonely forest-glade.

The boon which, in their bosoms' silent depths,

Your votaries crave ! Unto the sad of heart


Give comfort — knowledge unto him that doubts —

Possession to the lover, and its joy.

For unto you the Gods have given, what they

Denied to man — to aid and to console


All those soe'er, who put their trust in you.

GOD, SOUL, AND WORLD by Goethe

 GOD, SOUL, AND WORLD.

RHYMED DISTICHS.

[The Distichs, of which these are given as a specimen, are about forty in number.]

How? when? and where?—No answer comes from high;
Thou waitest for the Because, and yet thou askest not Why?


If the whole is ever to gladden thee,
That whole in the smallest thing thou must see.


Water its living strength first shows,
When obstacles its course oppose.


Transparent appears the radiant air,
Though steel and stone in its breast it may bear;
At length they'll meet with fiery power,
And metal and stones on the earth will shower.


Whate'er a living flame may surround,
No longer is shapeless, or earthly bound.
'Tis now invisible, flies from earth,
And hastens on high to the place of its birth.


This truth may be by all believed:
Whom God deceives, is well deceived.


Who trusts in God,
Fears not His rod.

THE BROTHERS by Goethe

 THE BROTHERS. Slumber, Sleep — they were two brothers, servants             To the Gods above ;  Kind Prometheus lured them downwards, ever...