Song for Muhammad

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

      

Behold this rocky spring,

bright with joy

like a twinkling star;

above the clouds

its youth was nourished

by good spirits

among the cliffs in the bushes.

      

Fresh as a youth

it dances out of the cloud

down to the marble rocks,

cheering again

to the sky.

     

Along mountainous paths

it chases after colorful pebbles,

and with the step of a young leader

its companion-springs journey

with it onward.

     

Below in the valley

flowers appear from its footprints,

and the meadow

derives life from its breath.

     

But no shaded valley can stop it,

no flower,

clasping its knees

and imploring it with loving eyes:

toward the Plains it presses its course,

twisting like a snake.

     

Brooks nuzzle up

sociably. Now it treads

into the Plain, resplendent with silver,

and the Plain grows silver too,

and the rivers of the Plain

and the brooks of the mountains

cheer and shout: "Brother!

Brother, take your brothers with,

take them with you to your ancient father,

to the eternal ocean,

whose outstretched arms

await us,

who, ah! has opened them in vain

to embrace his yearning children;

for the bleak wasteland's

greedy sand devours us; the sun above

sucks up all our blood; a hill

clogs us into a pool! Brother,

take your brothers from this Plain,

take your brothers from the mountains,

take them with you to your ancient father!

     

Come all of you! -

and now [the spring] swells

more grandly: an entire race

lifts the prince up high!

And in rolling triumph

it gives names to the lands and cities

that grow in its path.

     

Irresistibly it rushes onward,

leaving a wake of flaming-tipped towers

and houses of marble - creations

of its bounty.

     

Like Atlas it bears cedar houses

upon its giant's shoulders;

over its head, the wind noisily

blows a thousand flags

as testimony of its glory.

     

And so it brings its brothers,

its treasures, its children,

effervescent with joy,

to the waiting parent's bosom.