Best Goethe Poems

Too much to know, I just don't know it
As I fumble around, just a humble poet 
Frustrated as I watch unfurl a show
I just don't know it, too much to know

Answers are near, in the palm of my hand
It's nobody's fault that I can't understand...

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I wandered down the forest lane,

just to see what joys I'd find.
The path was dry from lack of rain

and rimmed by plants of every kind.

---
A little frog came hopping by

Focused on undisclosed intent.
With no response to my brief "Hi!"

he kept hopping without relent.

---
A group of...

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ON LOOKING AT SCHILLER’S SKULL
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Here in this charnel-house full of bleaching bones,
like yesteryear’s
fading souvenirs,
I see the skulls arranged in strange ordered rows.

Who knows whose owners might have beheaded peers,
packed tightly here
despite once repellent hate?
Here weaponless, they...

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When the wind is just right and sky

is clear of dark clouds I take sail.
Skiff takes me to where the fish lie

This early morning I can’t fail...

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'All theory is grey, only life is green'.

                                   Some years ago...

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GOETHE’S PATH

Jake Castle placed a landmark.
He was not on ordinary trip.
His Goethe’s Path was rampart.
In the forest, he trekked.
______________________|
PENNED ON JUNE 15, 2014!...

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O dark angel bring forth the light

in delight let me see your face
your face of shadows from the night

this night of fury and disgrace.


Graceful lady hear my plea

in pleasing chants and mystic charms
a charmed voice of humility

your humble child in stillness calms.


Calm my seething breath...

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I find myself agreeing a lot with Goethe lately…
yes, I think it would be fair 
to say I spend as much time on top of the world…
as I do floundering in the depths of despair.

On top of the world at our granddaughter’s 16th birthday party
on...

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These are modern English translations of the "Xenia" epigrams written in collaboration by the German poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, plus an elegy Goethe wrote for Schiller...

These are selected XENIA epigrams with all translations by Michael R. Burch...

#2 - Verse versus Kiss

She...

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Law student Johann Goethe
much preferred poetry you see
In German his verse he sang
as a leading light of Sturm&Drang...

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The Fisher
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translation by Michael R. Burch

The river swirled and rippled;
nearby an angler lay,
and watched his lure with a careless eye,
like any other day.
But as he watched in a strange half-dream,
he saw the waters part,
and from the river’s depths emerged
a maiden, or...

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Gefunden (“Found”)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Into the woodlands,
alone, I went.
Seeking nothing,
my sole intent.

But I saw a flower
deep in the shade
gleaming like starlight
in a still glade.

I reached down to pluck it
when it shyly asked:
“Why would you snap me
so cruelly in half?”

So...

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“To the Moon”
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Scattered, pole to starry pole,
glide Cynthia's mild beams,
whispering to the receptive soul
whatever moonbeams mean.

Bathing valley, hill and dale
with her softening light,
loosening from earth’s frigid chains
my restless heart tonight!

Over the landscape, near and far,
broods darkly glowering...

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A new path yet of a familiar kind -

Like many other pathways in its wake,
Dad, look for markers that fill up your mind -

hints of how to return without mistake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With care, watch out for snakes and noxious weeds

while engaging this resourceful treasure.
Mom, teach your child...

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Do you know the land where the lemon-trees flower?

There are folks whose bouquets seem to be vagrant;
their aromas are devoid of willpower.

“They need water,” says my friend who’s called Fragrant.


Contained within their trunk itself a sweet smell,

but in the growth cycle it bears exception;
scents escape...

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