A TRANSLATION 



OF 



GOETHE'S PROEMIUM TO " GOTT UND WELT.' 



To Him who from eternity, self-stirred, 

 Himself hath made by His creative word ! 

 To Him, Supreme, who causeth faith to be, 

 Trust, hope, love, power, and endless energy ! 

 To Him, who, seek to name Him as we will, 

 UNKNOWN within Himself abideth still ! 



Strain ear and eye, till sight and sense be dim ; 



Thou' It find but faint similitudes of Him : 



Yea, and thy spirit in her flight of flame 



Still strives to gauge the symbol and the name : 



Charmed and compelled thou climb'st from height to height, 



And' round thy path the world shines wondrous bright ; 



Time, space, and size, and distance cease to be, 



And every step is fresh infinity. 



What were the God who sat outside to scan 



The spheres that 'neath His finger circling ran ? 



God dwells within, and moves the world and moulds, 



Himself and Nature in one form enfolds : 



Thus all that lives in Him, and breathes, and is, 



Shall ne'er His puissance, ne'er His spirit miss. 



The soul of man, too, is a universe ; 



Whence follows it that race with race concurs 



In framing all it knows of good and true 



God ? yea, its own God ; and, with homage due, 



Surrenders to His sway both earth and heaven ; 



Fears Him, and loves, where place for love is given. 



J. A. S. 

 Spectator, September 24, 1870. 



