Happy poems
/ page 190 of 254 /
To A Golden Heart That He Wore Round His Neck.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
[Addressed, during the Swiss tour already mentioned,
to a present Lily had given him, during the time of their happy
connection, which was then about to be terminated for ever.]
The Orphan Boy's Tale
© Amelia Opie
Stay, lady, stay, for mercy's sake,
And hear a helpless orphan's tale,
Ah! sure my looks must pity wake,
'Tis want that makes my cheek so pale.
The Spring Oracle.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
OH prophetic bird so bright,
Blossom-songster, cuckoo bight!
In the fairest time of year,
Dearest bird, oh! deign to hear
The Drops Of Nectar.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To a happy end they tasted,
They, and other gentle insects!
For with mortals now divide they
Art?that noblest gift of all.
Mischievous Joy.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
AS a butterfly renew'd,When in life I breath'd my last,To the spots my flight I wing,Scenes of heav'nly rapture past,Over meadows, to the spring,
Round the hill, and through the wood.Soon a tender pair I spy,And I look down from my seatOn the beauteous maiden's head--When embodied there I meetAll I lost as soon as dead,
Happy as before am I.Him she clasps with silent smile,And his mouth the hour improves,Sent by kindly Deities;First from breast to mouth it roves,Then from mouth to hands it flies,
And I round him sport the while.And she sees me hov'ring near;Trembling at her lovers rapture,Up she springs--I fly away,"Dearest! let's the insect captureCome! I long to make my prey
The Wanderer's Storm-song.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Him whom thou ne'er leavest, Genius,
Thou wilt place upon thy fleecy pinion
When he sleepeth on the rock,--
Thou wilt shelter with thy guardian wing
In the forest's midnight hour.
To Francis Beaumont
© Benjamin Jonson
How I do love thee, Beaumont, and thy muse,
That unto me dost such religion use!
To Charlotte.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
'MIDST the noise of merriment and glee,'Midst full many a sorrow, many a care,
Charlotte, I remember, we remember thee,How, at evening's hour so fair,
Thou a kindly hand didst reach us,When thou, in some happy placeWhere more fair is Nature s face,Many a lightly-hidden trace
Of a spirit loved didst teach us.Well 'tis that thy worth I rightly knew,--That I, in the hour when first we met,While the first impression fill'd me yet,
Starting From Paumanok
© Walt Whitman
Of earth, rocks, Fifth-month flowers, experienced-stars, rain, snow,
my amaze;
Having studied the mocking-bird's tones, and the mountainhawk's,
And heard at dusk the unrival'd one, the hermit thrush from the
swamp-cedars,
Solitary, singing in the West, I strike up for a New World.
A Letter From Italy
© Joseph Addison
Salve magna parens frugum Saturnia tellus,
Magna virûm! tibi res antiquæ laudis et artis
To The Grasshopper.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
[The strong resemblance of this fine poem to
Cowley's Ode bearing the same name, and beginning "Happy insect!
what can be," will be at once seen.]
The Sea-voyage.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
MANY a day and night my bark stood ready laden;
Waiting fav'ring winds, I sat with true friends round me,
Pledging me to patience and to courage,
In the haven.
The Happy Couple.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
AFTER these vernal rainsThat we so warmly sought,
Dear wife, see how our plainsWith blessings sweet are fraught!
We cast our distant gazeFar in the misty blue;
Here gentle love still strays,Here dwells still rapture true.Thou seest whither goYon pair of pigeons white,
The Silent Muse
© Alfred Austin
``Why have you silent been so long?''
In tones of mild rebuke you ask.
Know you not, kindly friend, that Song
Is the ``Gay Science,'' not a task?
Joy And Sorrow.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As a fisher-boy I faredTo the black rock in the sea,
And, while false gifts I prepared.Listen'd and sang merrily,
Down descended the decoy,Soon a fish attack'd the bait;
One exultant shout of joy,--And the fish was captured straight.Ah! on shore, and to the woodPast the cliffs, o'er stock and stone,
Happiness And Vision.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Thyself as bride, as bridegroom I.
Oft from thy mouth full many a kiss
In an unguarded hour of bliss
Petition.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
OH thou sweet maiden fair,
Thou with the raven hair,Why to the window go?While gazing down below,
Art standing vainly there?Oh, if thou stood'st for me,
And lett'st the latch but fly,How happy should I be!
The Violet.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In truth, a violet fair.
Then came a youthful shepherdess,
And roam'd with sprightly joyousness,
And blithely woo'd
Comfort In Tears.
© Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
How happens it that thou art sad,While happy all appear?
Thine eye proclaims too well that thouHast wept full many a tear."If I have wept in solitude,None other shares my grief,
And tears to me sweet balsam are,And give my heart relief."Thy happy friends invite thee now,--Oh come, then, to our breast!
And let the loss thou hast sustain'dBe there to us confess'd!"Ye shout, torment me, knowing notWhat 'tis afflicteth me;
