MISCHIEVOUS JOY. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
AS a butterfly renew'd,
When in life I breath'd my last,
To the spots my flight I wing,
Scenes of heav'nly rapture past,
Over meadows, to the spring, Round the hill, and through the wood.
Soon a tender pair I spy,
And I look down from my seat
On the beauteous maiden's head--
When embodied there I meet
All I lost as soon as dead, Happy as before am I.
Him she clasps with silent smile,
And his mouth the hour improves,
Sent by kindly Deities;
First from breast to mouth it roves,
Then from mouth to hands it flies, And I round him sport the while.
And she sees me hov'ring near;
Trembling at her lovers rapture,
Up she springs--I fly away,
"Dearest! let's the insect capture
Come! I long to make my prey Yonder pretty little dear!"
1767-9.
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