To Minna

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



Do I dream? can I trust to my eye?
 My sight sure some vapor must cover?
Or, there, did my Minna pass by--
 My Minna--and knew not her lover?
On the arm of the coxcomb she crossed,
 Well the fan might its zephyr bestow;
Herself in her vanity lost,
 That wanton my Minna?--Ah, no!

In the gifts of my love she was dressed,
 My plumes o'er her summer hat quiver;
The ribbons that flaunt in her breast
 Might bid her--remember the giver!
And still do they bloom on thy bosom,
 The flowerets I gathered for thee!
Still as fresh is the leaf of each blossom,
 'Tis the heart that has faded from me!

Go and take, then, the incense they tender;
Go, the one that adored thee forget!
Go, thy charms to the feigner surrender,
In my scorn is my comforter yet!
Go, for thee with what trust and belief
There beat not ignobly a heart
That has strength yet to strive with the grief
To have worshipped the trifler thou art!

Thy beauty thy heart hath betrayed--
 Thy beauty--shame, Minna, to thee!
To-morrow its glory will fade,
 And its roses all withered will be!
The swallows that swarm in the sun
 Will fly when the north winds awaken,
The false ones thine autumn will shun,
 For whom thou the true hast forsaken!

'Mid the wrecks of the charms in December,
 I see thee alone in decay,
And each spring shall but bid thee remember
 How brief for thyself was the May!
Then they who so wantonly flock
 To the rapture thy kiss can impart,
Shall scoff at thy winter, and mock
 Thy beauty as wrecked as thy heart!

Thy beauty thy heart hath betrayed--
 Thy beauty--shame, Minna, to thee
To-morrow its glory will fade--
 And its roses all withered will be!
O, what scorn for thy desolate years
 Shall I feel!--God forbid it in me!
How bitter will then be the tears
 Shed, Minna, O Minna, for thee!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:40 min read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababcdcd ebebfgfg bhbhijij KGKGllll bmbmnjnj KGKGxgxg
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,734
Words 333
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 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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