Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Aug. 28, 1749 - Mar. 22, 1832

 

The Swiss Alp

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Yesterday thy head was brown, as are the flowing locks of love,
In the bright blue sky I watch'd thee towering, giantlike, above.
Now thy summit, white and hoary, glitters all with silver snow,
Which the stormy night hath shaken from its robes upon thy brow;
And I know that youth and age are bound with such mysterious meaning,
As the days are link'd together, one short dream but intervening.

A.

Source:

Poems And Ballads Of Goethe
Copyright 1859
Translator:
William Edmondstoune Aytoun, D.C.L. ("A.")
and Theodore Martin ("M.")
Delisser & Procter
508 Broadway, New York