C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
In Goethe’s Garden
By Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859)
I
Yon vale, bedecked by nature’s fairy fingers,
Where the still by-road picturesquely lingers,
The cottage white whose quaint charms grace the way—
These are the scenes that o’er my heart hold sway.
Though I ascend to heights fair lands dividing,
Where stately ships I see the ocean riding,
While cities gird the view in proud array,
Naught prompts my heart’s impulses to obey.
And could I stand while Paradise descrying,
Still for these verdant meads should I be sighing,
Where thy dear roof-peaks skirt the verdant way:
Beyond these bounds my heart longs not to stray.