To The Golden Heart That He Wore Around His Neck

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



OH thou token loved of joys now perish'd

That I still wear from my neck suspended,
Art thou stronger than our spirit-bond so cherish'd?

Or canst thou prolong love's days untimely ended?

Lily, I fly from thee! I still am doom'd to range
Thro' countries strange,

Thro' distant vales and woods, link'd on to thee!
Ah, Lily's heart could surely never fall

So soon away from me!

As when a bird bath broken from his thrall,

And seeks the forest green,
Proof of imprisonment he bears behind him,
A morsel of the thread once used to bind him;

The free-born bird of old no more is seen,

For he another's prey bath been.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 20, 2023

36 sec read
79

Quick analysis:

Scheme A BA B CC DE D E FGG F X
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 604
Words 115
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 1, 1

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

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