{"id":14317,"date":"2016-03-22T11:02:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T15:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=14317"},"modified":"2016-03-22T11:02:32","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T15:02:32","slug":"on-the-anniversary-of-goethes-death-on-this-day-in-1832","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/on-the-anniversary-of-goethes-death-on-this-day-in-1832\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Anniversary of Goethe’s Death on this day in 1832"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"johann-wolfgang-von-goethe100-_v-img__16__9__l_-1dc0e8f74459dd04c91a0d45af4972b9069f1135\"<\/a>Here a poem by Goethe from his\u00a0West-\u00d6stlicher Divan<\/em>, a poem addressed to the greatness of the Persian poet Hafiz, and that we can now read as addressing\u00a0the greatness of the poet Goethe. First in the original, then in my translation.<\/p>\n

Unbegrenzt<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Da\u00df du nicht enden kannst, das macht dich gro\u00df,
\n<\/span>Und da\u00df du nie beginnst, das ist dein Los.
\n<\/span>Dein Lied ist drehend wie das Sterngew\u00f6lbe,
\n<\/span>Anfang und Ende immerfort dasselbe,
\n<\/span>Und, was die Mitte bringt, ist offenbar
\n<\/span>Das, was zu Ende bleibt und Anfangs war.<\/span><\/p>\n

Du bist der Freuden echte Dichterquelle
\n<\/span>Und ungez\u00e4hlt entflie\u00dft dir Well’ auf Welle.
\n<\/span>Zum K\u00fcssen stets bereiter Mund,
\n<\/span>Ein Brustgesang, der lieblich flie\u00dfet,
\n<\/span>Zum Trinken stets gereizter Schlund,
\n<\/span>Ein gutes Herz, das sich ergie\u00dfet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Und mag die ganze Welt versinken,
\n<\/span>Hafis mit dir, mit dir allein
\n<\/span>Will ich wetteifern! Lust und Pein
\n<\/span>Sei uns, den Zwillingen, gemein!
\n<\/span>Wie du zu lieben und zu trinken,
\n<\/span>Das soll mein Stolz, mein Leben sein.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nun t\u00f6ne Lied mit eignem Feuer!
\n<\/span>Denn du bist \u00e4lter, du bist neuer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unbounded<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That you never end is what makes you great.
\n<\/span>And that you never begin is your fate.
\n<\/span>Your song\u2019s a gyre like heaven\u2019s vault,
\n<\/span>Beginning and end are ever the same
\n<\/span>And what the middle brings is patently
\n<\/span>What stays\u00a0to\u00a0the end and was at\u00a0the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

For joy you are true poet\u2019s source
\n<\/span>That \u00a0wave after wave ceaselessly\u00a0spills from you.
\n<\/span>A mouth always ready to kiss,
\n<\/span>A breast filled with\u00a0sweet song pouring forth,
\n<\/span>A throat always parched for drink,
\n<\/span>A good heart, gushing.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if the whole world should disappear
\n<\/span>Hafiz, with you and you alone
\n<\/span>Would I compete! Pleasure & pain
\n<\/span>As twins we\u2019d share!
\n<\/span>To love & to drink like you
\nThat shall be my pride, my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

May songs now resound with their own fire!
\n<\/span>For you are older, you are newer!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here a poem by Goethe from his\u00a0West-\u00d6stlicher Divan, a poem addressed to the greatness of the Persian poet Hafiz, and that we can now read as addressing\u00a0the greatness of the poet Goethe. First in...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1117,103],"tags":[355],"class_list":["post-14317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem","category-translation","tag-goethe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14317"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14321,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317\/revisions\/14321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}