The Works of J. W. von Goethe/Volume 9/To the Distant One

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"To the Distant One" redirects here; see also To a Distant One.

TO THE DISTANT ONE.

And have I lost thee evermore,
Hast thou, oh, fair one, from me flown?
Still in mine ear sounds, as of yore,
Thine every word, thine every tone.

As when at morn the wanderer's eye
Attempts to pierce the air in vain,
When, hidden in the azure sky,
The lark high o'er him chants his strain:

So do I cast my troubled gaze
Through bush, through forest, o'er the lea;
Thou art invoked by all my lays;
Oh, come then, loved one, back to me!