Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BOUNDARIES OF HUMANITY, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BOUNDARIES OF HUMANITY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When the primeval father
Last Line: Of human existence.
Subject(s): Humanity; Mankind; Mortality; Human Race


WHEN the primeval Father,
Changeless and holy,
Sows in His bounty,
With free hand and tranquil,
From the rolling clouds,
Joy-diffusing lightnings
O'er the wide earth,
Then the last hem of His garment
I kiss with childlike awe and devotion—
My heart is filled with His homage.

For never against the immortals
May a mortal
Measure himself.
If heavenward he soar
And touch with his forehead
The stars in their courses,
His feet, insecure,
Shall find no abiding;
Clouds and tempest
Shall sport with his weakness.

With limbs firm and sinewy,
Let him stand without tremor
Upon the green earth enduring;
Content to resemble the oak or the ivy.

How shall we distinguish
The gods from men?
Before them the billows,
An infinite stream,
Roll onward forever;
Us a wave raises,
Us a wave swallows,
And we vanish.

A little rounded link
Encircles our life;
Yet generations of mortals
Weld themselves firmly
To the unending chain
Of human existence.





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