Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Appendix: Ilm, the River | | To the Moon | | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) |
| | Translated by J. S. Dwight
FILLEST hill and vale again, | |
| Still, with softening light! | |
| Loosest from the world’s cold chain | |
| All my soul to-night! | |
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| Spreadest round me, far and nigh, | 5 |
| Soothingly, thy smile; | |
| From thee, as from friendship’s eye, | |
| Sorrow shrinks the while. | |
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| Every echo thrills my heart,— | |
| Glad and gloomy mood. | 10 |
| Joy and sorrow both have part | |
| In my solitude. | |
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| River, river, glide along! | |
| I am sad, alas! | |
| Fleeting things are love and song,— | 15 |
| Even so they pass! | |
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| I have had and I have lost | |
| What I long for yet; | |
| Ah! why will we, to our cost, | |
| Simple joys forget? | 20 |
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| River, river, glide along, | |
| Without stop or stay! | |
| Murmur, whisper to my song | |
| In melodious play,— | |
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| Whether on a winter’s night | 25 |
| Rise thy swollen floods, | |
| Or in spring thou hast delight | |
| Watering the young buds. | |
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| Happy he who, hating none, | |
| Leaves the world’s dull noise, | 30 |
| And, with trusty friend alone, | |
| Quietly enjoys | |
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| What, forever unexpressed, | |
| Hid from common sight, | |
| Through the mazes of the breast | 35 |
| Softly steals by night! | | | | |
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