| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Maiden Speaks | | By Johann Wofgang von Goethe (1749–1832) |
| | Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring
HOW grave thou lookest, loved one,—wherefore so? | |
| Thy marble image seems a type of thee;— | |
| Like it, no sign of life thou giv’st to me; | |
| Compared with thee, the stone appears to glow. | |
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| Behind his shield in ambush lurks the foe, | 5 |
| The friend’s brow all-unruffled should we see: | |
| I seek thee, but thou seek’st away to flee;— | |
| Fixed as this sculptured figure, learn to grow! | |
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| Tell me, to which should I the preference pay? | |
| Must I from both with coldness meet alone? | 10 |
| This one is lifeless, thou with life art blest. | |
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| In short, no longer to throw words away, | |
| I’ll fondly kiss, and kiss, and kiss this stone, | |
| Till thou dost tear me hence with envious breast. | | | | |
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