HAPPINESS AND VISION.

Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832
29The Poems

TOGETHER at the altar we In vision oft were seen by thee,

Thyself as bride, as bridegroom I. Oft from thy mouth full many a kiss In an unguarded hour of bliss

I then would steal, while none were by.

The purest rapture we then knew, The joy those happy hours gave too,

When tasted, fled, as time fleets on. What now avails my joy to me? Like dreams the warmest kisses flee,

Like kisses, soon all joys are gone.

1767-8.

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