The Secret

Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)



She sought to breathe one word, but vainly;
 Too many listeners were nigh;
And yet my timid glance read plainly
 The language of her speaking eye.
Thy silent glades my footstep presses,
 Thou fair and leaf-embosomed grove!
Conceal within thy green recesses
 From mortal eye our sacred love!

Afar with strange discordant noises,
 The busy day is echoing;
And 'mid the hollow hum of voices,
 I hear the heavy hammer ring.
'Tis thus that man, with toil ne'er ending
 Extorts from heaven his daily bread;
Yet oft unseen the Gods are sending
 The gifts of fortune on his head!

Oh, let mankind discover never
 How true love fills with bliss our hearts
They would but crush our joy forever,
 For joy to them no glow imparts.
Thou ne'er wilt from the world obtain it--
 'Tis never captured save as prey;
Thou needs must strain each nerve to gain it,
 E'er envy dark asserts her sway.

The hours of night and stillness loving,
 It comes upon us silently--
Away with hasty footstep moving
 Soon as it sees a treacherous eye.
Thou gentle stream, soft circlets weaving,
 A watery barrier cast around,
And, with thy waves in anger heaving,
 Guard from each foe this holy ground!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:02 min read
96

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCXCX XDCDDEDE FGFGHIHI DADBDJDJ
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,141
Words 206
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet philosopher historian and playwright During the last seventeen years of his life Schiller struck up a productive if complicated friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe with whom he frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics and encouraged Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches this relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism They also worked together on Die Xenien The Xenies a collection of short but harshly satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda. more…

All Friedrich Schiller poems | Friedrich Schiller Books

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