| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | To a Golden Heart, Worn round His Neck | | By Johann Wofgang von Goethe (1749–1832) |
| | Translated by Margaret Fuller Ossoli
REMEMBRANCER of joys long passed away, | |
| Relic, from which as yet I cannot part, | |
| O, hast thou power to lengthen love’s short day? | |
| Stronger thy chain than that which bound the heart? | |
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| Lili, I fly!—yet still thy fetters press me | 5 |
| In distant valley, or far lonely wood. | |
| Still with a struggling sigh of pain confess thee | |
| The mistress of my soul in every mood. | |
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| The bird may burst the silken chain that bound him, | |
| Flying to the green home, which fits him best; | 10 |
| But, ah! he bears the prisoner’s badge around him | |
| Still by the piece about his neck distressed. | |
| He ne’er can breathe his free wild notes again; | |
| They’re stifled by the pressure of his chain. | | | | |
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