BE void of feeling! <br />A heart that soon is stirr'd, <br />Is a possession sad <br />Upon this changing earth. <br /> <br />Behrisch, let spring's sweet smile <br />Never gladden thy brow! <br />Then winter's gloomy tempests <br />Never will shadow it o'er. <br /> <br />Lean thyself ne'er on a maiden's <br />Sorrow-engendering breast. <br />Ne'er on the arm, <br />Misery-fraught, of a friend. <br /> <br />Already envy <br />From out his rocky ambush <br />Upon thee turns <br />The force of his lynx-like eyes, <br /> <br />Stretches his talons, <br />On thee falls, <br />In thy shoulders <br />Cunningly plants them. <br /> <br />Strong are his skinny arms, <br />As panther-claws; <br />He shaketh thee, <br />And rends thy frame. <br /> <br />Death 'tis to part, <br />'Tis threefold death <br />To part, not hoping <br />Ever to meet again. <br /> <br />Thou wouldst rejoice to leave <br />This hated land behind, <br />Wert thou not chain'd to me <br />With friendships flowery chains. <br /> <br />Burst them! I'll not repine. <br />No noble friend <br />Would stay his fellow-captive, <br />If means of flight appear. <br /> <br />The remembrance <br />Of his dear friend's freedom <br />Gives him freedom <br />In his dungeon. <br /> <br />Thou go'st,--I'm left. <br />But e'en already <br />The last year's winged spokes <br />Whirl round the smoking axle. <br /> <br />I number the turns <br />Of the thundering wheel; <br />The last one I bless.-- <br />Each bar then is broken, I'm free then as thou!<br /><br />Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-my-friend-ode-iii/
