196
POEMS OF GOETHE
Roam through flowery valleys,
Rule the butterfly people,
And soft-nourishing dew
With bee-like lips
Drink from the blossom:
Or else she may,
With fluttering hair
And gloomy looks,
Sigh in the wind
Round rocky cliffs,
And thousand-hued,
Like morn and even,
Ever changing,
Like moonbeam's light,
To mortals appear.
Let us all, then,
Adore the Father!
The old, the mighty,
Who such a beauteous
Ne'er-fading spouse
Deigns to accord
To perishing mortals!
To us alone
Doth he unite her,
With heavenly bonds,
While he commands her
In joy and sorrow,
As a true spouse
Never try to fly us.
All the remaining
Eaces so poor
Of life-teeming earth,
