Marianne von Willemer

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From Marianne von Willemer: "West-Eastern Divan", translation by by Edgar Alfred Bowring 1874

ZEPHYR, for thy humid wing,
Oh, how much I envy thee!
Thou to him canst tidings bring
How our parting saddens me!

In my breast, a yearning still
As thy pinions wave, appears;

Flow'rs and eyes, and wood, and hill
At thy breath are steeped in tears.

Yet thy mild wing gives relief,
Soothes the aching eyelid's pain;
Ah, I else had died for grief,
Him ne'er hoped to see again.

To my love, then, quick repair,
Whisper softly to his heart;
Yet, to give him pain, beware,
Nor my bosom's pangs impart.

Tell him, but in accents coy,
That his love must be my life;
Both, with feelings fraught with joy,
In his presence will be rife.

Some of the poems of Goethe's "West Eastern Divan" are by Marianne von Willemer.

Marianne von Willemer was 31 when she began to love 66 year old Johann Wolfgang. Goethe by then believed that there would be only world literature in the future, not national literature. He was reading oriental poets when he transformed his love for Marianne into the 'West Eastern Divan' and included - anonymously - Marianne von Willemer's inspired poems.

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You can buy copies of Goethe's West-Eastern Divan via Abebooks US/Canada or via Abebooks UK

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