| Margarete Münsterberg, ed., trans. A Harvest of German Verse. 1916. | | | | King in Thule | | By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) |
| | | THERE was a king in Thule, | |
| Right faithful to his grave, | |
| To whom his dying sweetheart | |
| A golden goblet gave. | |
| |
| Naught else he loved above it, | 5 |
| He emptied it every meal; | |
| And so he used to love it— | |
| The tears from his eyes would steal. | |
| |
| He felt that he was dying, | |
| And gave unto his heir | 10 |
| The towns in his kingdom lying— | |
| But not the goblet rare. | |
| |
| He sat at the banquet royal | |
| In the old hall solemnly, | |
| With all his vassals loyal, | 15 |
| In the castle by the sea. | |
| |
| There stood the aged monarch | |
| And drank life’s sunset glow; | |
| And cast the sacred goblet | |
| Into the flood below. | 20 |
| |
| He saw it rushing, drinking, | |
| Into the sea it sank. | |
| His eyelids old were sinking— | |
| Ne’er more a drop he drank. | | | | |
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