Inspiration for Birders: Goethe
By Mike • March 21, 2006 • No comments yetOur inspirational bird quote for the month of March comes from a Johann Wolfgang von Goethe poem entitled fittingly and succinctly March. Goethe’s most popular piece, Faust, is a great work of genius, no surprise as it is the work of a great genius. I had no idea that the renowned, supremely influential German novelist , playwright, courtier, scholar, and natural philosopher was also a splendid poet, but here’s the proof:
MARCH
Goethe, 1817
The snow-flakes fall in showers,
The time is absent still,
When all Spring’s beauteous flowers,
When all Spring’s beauteous flowers
Our hearts with joy shall fill.
With lustre false and fleeting
The sun’s bright rays are thrown;
The swallow’s self is cheating:
The swallow’s self is cheating,
And why? He comes alone!
Can I e’er feel delighted
Alone, though Spring is near?
Yet when we are united,
Yet when we are united,
The Summer will be here.
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