Classic and Contemporary Poetry
COMFORT IN TEARS, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE Poet's Biography First Line: Why art thou sad, when all around Last Line: "while I have heart to weep." Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness | ||||||||
WHY art thou sad, when all around So gay and bright appears? For plainly in thine eyes are seen The traces of thy tears. "And if I wept in solitude The grief is mine alone, And with the tears that sweetly streamed, More light my heart has grown." Come, let us clasp thee in our arms, Thy joyous comrades say; And there, whatever thou hast lost, Weep thy regrets away. "Ye brawl and bluster, dreaming not The secret of my pain; My grief is not that I have lost, But that I long in vain." Spring boldly up; for thou art young, With speed thy task begin; Thine is the age of daring deeds, And strength to strive and win. "Ah no! 'tis what I cannot win, From me 'tis all too far; It dwells as high, it gleams as bright, As shineth yonder star." We do not long to reach the stars, But glory in their light, And gaze to heaven in ecstasy Each fair and cloudless night. "I, too, look up in ecstasy, By day my watch I keep, Then let we weep the nights away While I have heart to weep." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONOMA FIRE by JANE HIRSHFIELD AS THE SPARKS FLY UPWARDS by JOHN HOLLANDER WHAT GREAT GRIEF HAS MADE THE EMPRESS MUTE by JUNE JORDAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 19 by JAMES JOYCE DIRGE AT THE END OF THE WOODS by LEONIE ADAMS A SONG FROM THE COPTIC by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE FAUST: SCENE 1. PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE |
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