YE shadowy forms, again ye're drawing near, <br /> <br />So wont of yore to meet my troubled gaze! <br />Were it in vain to seek to keep you here? <br /> <br />Loves still my heart that dream of olden days? <br />Oh, come then! and in pristine force appear, <br /> <br />Parting the vapor mist that round me plays! <br />My bosom finds its youthful strength again, <br />Feeling the magic breeze that marks your train. <br /> <br />Ye bring the forms of happy days of yore, <br /> <br />And many a shadow loved attends you too; <br />Like some old lay, whose dream was well nigh o'er, <br /> <br />First-love appears again, and friendship true; <br />Upon life's labyrinthine path once more <br /> <br />Is heard the sigh, and grief revives anew; <br />The friends are told, who, in their hour of pride, <br />Deceived by fortune, vanish'd from my side. <br /> <br />No longer do they hear my plaintive song, <br /> <br />The souls to whom I sang in life's young day; <br />Scatter'd for ever now the friendly throng, <br /> <br />And mute, alas! each sweet responsive lay. <br />My strains but to the careless crowd belong, <br /> <br />Their smiles but sorrow to my heart convey; <br />And all who heard my numbers erst with gladness, <br />If living yet, roam o'er the earth in sadness. <br /> <br />Long buried yearnings in my breast arise, <br /> <br />Yon calm and solemn spirit-realm to gain; <br />Like the AEONIAN harp's sweet melodies, <br /> <br />My murmuring song breathes forth its changeful strain. <br />A trembling seizes me, tears fill mine eyes, <br /> <br />And softer grows my rugged heart amain. <br />All I possess far distant seems to be, <br />The vanish'd only seems reality.<br /><br />Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/from-faust-i-dedication/
