Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832 / Frankfurt am Main

Joy

A DRAGON-FLY with beauteous wing
Is hov'ring o'er a silv'ry spring;
I watch its motions with delight,--
Now dark its colours seem, now bright;
Chameleon-like appear, now blue,
Now red, and now of greenish hue.
Would it would come still nearer me,
That I its tints might better see

It hovers, flutters, resting ne'er!

But hush! it settles on the mead.
I have it safe now, I declare!

And when its form I closely view,

'Tis of a sad and dingy blue--
Such, Joy-Dissector, is thy case indeed
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