Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

© by Marion

It written stands: “In the beginning was the Word.”
Here now I’m stopped. Who will some help afford?
It is impossible, the Word so high to prize,
I must translate it otherwise,
If I am rightly by the Spirit taught.
It written stands: “In the beginning was the Thought!”
Consider well that line, the first you see,
That your pen may not write too hastily!
Is it the Thought that all creates, works o’er?
It thus should stand: “In the beginning was the Power!”
But even while I’m writing this word down,
Already I am warned it will not hold its own.
The spirit helps me! Suddenly I see me freed
I write assured: “In the beginning was the Deed!”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

/Goethe’s Faust, Part I, translated by William Page Andrews (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1929)/

© by Marion