Wedding Night

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)



Far from the feasting, in the bedroom
Sits loyal Amor and quakes with dread:
What if the guests become too zestful,
Break the peace of the bridal bed?
A mystical and holy shimmer
Flows from his pale flames of gold;
For you both a whirl of incense
Readies pleasures manifold.

How throbs your heart as chiming timepiece
Chases noisy guests away;
Any moment, lips you burn for
Nought will utter, nought gainsay.
You hasten with her to the temple,
There to consummate your bliss;
The guardian holds aloft his flambeau,
Still and small as a taper is.

How she trembles with your kisses,
Bosom, lips, and cheeks, and brow:
His severities are shivers,
Your derring-do is duty now.
Quick, Amor helps you undress her,
He has half your enterprise;
Roguish, then, but also modest,
He'll be closing both his eyes.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 02, 2023

42 sec read
138

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEXE XFXFCXAX XGXGDHXH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 785
Words 142
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and politician. more…

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