The poem
MANY a guest I'd see to-day,
Met to taste my dishes! Food in plenty is prepar'd,
Birds, and game, and fishes. Invitations all have had,
All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
Pretty girls I hope to see,
Dear and guileless misses, Ignorant how sweet it is
Giving tender kisses. Invitations all have had,
All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
Women also I expect,
Loving tow'rd their spouses, Whose rude grumbling in their breasts
Greater love but rouses. Invitations they've had too,
All proposed attending! Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
I've too ask'd young gentlemen,
Who are far from haughty, And whose purses are well-stock'd,
Well-behaved, not haughty. These especially I ask'd,
All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
Men I summon'd with respect,
Who their own wives treasure; Who in ogling other Fair
Never take a pleasure. To my greetings they replied,
All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
Then to make our joy complete,
Poets I invited, Who love other's songs far more
Than what they've indited. All acceded to my wish,
All proposed attending. Johnny, go and look around!
Are they hither wending?
Not a single one appears,
None seem this way posting. All the soup boils fast away,
Joints are over-roasting. Ah, I fear that we have been
Rather too unbending! Johnny, tell me what you think!
None are hither wending.
Johnny, run and quickly bring
Other guests to me now! Each arriving as he is--
That's the plan, I see now. In the town at once 'tis known,
Every one's commending. Johnny, open all the doors:
All are hither wending!
1815.*
O, fun to find a Goethe poem as poem of the day as I just had to reinclude his "The Walking Bell" in my collection today at the request of the town fathers since it is on a placque in the belfry in the original German...
but come now "hither wending"? I have to laugh. Who translated this I wonder as I wander. Where is Robert Bly when you need him anyway. Well, off to see if the walking bell is anywhere to be found. Tschüss.