Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF THE SPIRIT OVER THE WATERS, by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF THE SPIRIT OVER THE WATERS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The soul of man
Last Line: How like the wind!
Subject(s): Mankind; Soul; Human Race


THE soul of man
Is like the water;
From heaven it cometh,
To heaven returneth—
Ever and forever changing.

From lofty rocky walls,
Swift leaps the glowing flood;
Then in the valley spreads it gently
O'er the rocks in cloudy billows,—
Billows ever kindly welcomed,—
Veils its murmur as it wanders
Downward to the waiting deep.

Cliffs projecting
Oft oppose it;
Angry, foaming,
Downward moves it,
Step by step.

Now in smoother channels
Through a flowery meadow winds it.
Till, within the lake reflected,
Gaze entranced the constellations.

Wind is the loving
Wooer of the waters;
Wind together blendeth
The all-foaming billows.

Soul of man,
How like the water
Fate of man,
How like the wind!





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