THE MODERN AMADIS ~ Goethe

The kept me guarded close, while yet
A little tiny elf,
And so I sat, and did beget
A world within myself,
All I cared to see.

Golden fancy then unfurled
Endless sights to me,
And a gallant knight I grew;
Like the Prince Pipi,
Roamed throughout the world.

Many a crystal palace saw,
Many overthrew;
My far-flashing falchion hurled
Through the dragon's maw.
Ha! then I was a man!

Next I freed in knightly wise
The Princess Periban;
Oh, the wonder of her eyes,
Smiling, as I wooed
Her with hearted sighs!

Her kiss, it was ambrosial food,
Glowed like noble wine;
With love, oh, I was almost dead!
A golden haze divine
She around her shed.

Who has torn her from my sight?
Can no spell delay
That dear vision, stay her flight?
Where her home, oh, say?
And thither, which the way?

by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Storer Cobb's English translation of 'The Modern Amadis' was first published in Goethe: Poetical Works, vol. 1. Boston: Francis A Niccolls & Company, 1902.