The Poems of Goethe Part 102

1816.

----- THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS.

THOU art confused, my beloved, at, seeing the thousandfold union

Shown in this flowery troop, over the garden dispers'd; any a name dost thou hear a.s.sign'd; one after another

Falls on thy list'ning ear, with a barbarian sound.

None resembleth another, yet all their forms have a likeness;

Therefore, a mystical law is by the chorus proclaim'd; Yes, a sacred enigma! Oh, dearest friend, could I only

Happily teach thee the word, which may the mystery solve!

Closely observe how the plant, by little and little progressing,

Step by step guided on, changeth to blossom and fruit!

First from the seed it unravels itself, as soon as the silent

Fruit-bearing womb of the earth kindly allows Its escape, And to the charms of the light, the holy, the ever-in-motion,

Trusteth the delicate leaves, feebly beginning to shoot.

Simply slumber'd the force in the seed; a germ of the future,

Peacefully lock'd in itself, 'neath the integument lay, Leaf and root, and bud, still void of colour, and shapeless;

Thus doth the kernel, while dry, cover that motionless life.

Upward then strives it to swell, in gentle moisture confiding,

And, from the night where it dwelt, straightway ascendeth to light.

Yet still simple remaineth its figure, when first it appeareth;

And 'tis a token like this, points out the child 'mid the plants.

Soon a shoot, succeeding it, riseth on high, and reneweth,

Piling-up node upon node, ever the primitive form; Yet not ever alike: for the following leaf, as thou seest,

Ever produceth itself, fas.h.i.+oned in manifold ways.

Longer, more indented, in points and in parts more divided,

Which. all-deform'd until now, slept in the organ below, So at length it attaineth the n.o.ble and destined perfection,

Which, in full many a tribe, fills thee with wondering awe.

Many ribb'd and tooth'd, on a surface juicy and swelling,

Free and unending the shoot seemeth in fullness to be; Yet here Nature restraineth, with powerful hands, the formation,

And to a perfecter end, guideth with softness its growth, Less abundantly yielding the sap, contracting the vessels,

So that the figure ere long gentler effects doth disclose.

Soon and in silence is check'd the growth of the vigorous branches,

And the rib of the stalk fuller becometh in form.

Leafless, however, and quick the tenderer stem then up-springeth,

And a miraculous sight doth the observer enchant.

Ranged in a circle, in numbers that now are small, and now countless,

Gather the smaller-sized leaves, close by the side of their like.

Round the axis compress'd the sheltering calyx unfoldeth,

And, as the perfectest type, brilliant-hued coronals forms.

Thus doth Nature bloom, in glory still n.o.bler and fuller,

Showing, in order arranged, member on member uprear'd.

Wonderment fresh dost thou feel, as soon as the stem rears the flower

Over the scaffolding frail of the alternating leaves.

But this glory is only the new creation's foreteller,

Yes, the leaf with its hues feeleth the hand all divine, And on a sudden contracteth itself; the tenderest figures

Twofold as yet, hasten on, destined to blend into one.

Lovingly now the beauteous pairs are standing together,

Gather'd in countless array, there where the altar is raised.

Hymen hovereth o'er them, and scents delicious and mighty

Stream forth their fragrance so sweet, all things enliv'ning around.

Presently, parcell'd out, unnumber'd germs are seen swelling,

Sweetly conceald in the womb, where is made perfect the fruit.

Here doth Nature close the ring of her forces eternal;

Yet doth a new one, at once, cling to the one gone before, So that the chain be prolonged for ever through all generations,

And that the whole may have life, e'en as enjoy'd by each part.

Now, my beloved one, turn thy gaze on the many-hued thousands

Which, confusing no more, gladden the mind as they wave.

Every plant unto thee proclaimeth the laws everlasting,

Every flowered speaks louder and louder to thee; But if thou here canst decipher the mystic words of the G.o.ddess,

Everywhere will they be seen, e'en though the features are changed.

Creeping insects may linger, the eager b.u.t.terfly hasten,--

Plastic and forming, may man change e'en the figure decreed!

Oh, then, bethink thee, as well, how out of the germ of acquaintance,