By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ©Translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher
Tell no one, but the wise,
For the crowd will mock straightaway,
I want to praise what is alive,
That which longs for death by flames.
In the coolness of the nights of love,
Which made you, where you made life,
A strange feeling stops you unawares
As the candle burns and is silent.
You stay embraced no more
In the shadow of eclipse,
And new desire pulls you forward
To higher lovemaking and bliss.
You find no distance heavy,
You come flying and yearning,
And finally, to the light so eager,
You are that bright moth, burned.
And as long as you don’t get
This: Die and become!
You are but a dull guest
On the dark earth.
Credits: Please credit the work of the translator Carmen Acevedo Butcher if you share this translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Selige Sehnsucht” [“Joyful Longing”] as given in the title here: “Joyful Longing by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ©Translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher.”
“Selige Sehnsucht” is in Buch des Sängers in West-östlicher Divan by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Cotta Publishing House, 1819), 30-31. It is inspired by the poet Hafez.
“Selige Sehnsucht” can also be “Blessed Longing,” but because “selige” can also mean “joy” or “very deep happiness,” as in the beatitudes of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and because my favorite German song, taught me by Mother Buschbeck, has “selige” in it and expresses “joyful, very happy” there, I chose “Joyful Longing.” The ancient root of “selige” is *selh₂- for “to calm, quiet, be favorable.” In Matthew 5-7, “happy” or “blessed” is makarios (μακάριος). I can also see how “holy” is sometimes chosen for “selige” here, but it is not as close to the heart of “selige” semantically or etymologically as is “joyful.”
I was inspired to look at this Goethe poem in German while rereading several of Connie Zweig’s books. Dr. Zweig is a retired Jungian therapist and author of Meeting the Shadow, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening, and more. This Goethe poem features in Meeting the Shadow of Spirituality: The Hidden Power of Darkness on the Path (formerly titled The Holy Longing), and it is a powerful reminder of Carl Jung’s teaching on shadow-work and individuation as a process about wholeness, which shares a root with holy, and “holy” is a reminder of all that. My translation of this poem is mindful of Goethe’s original abab rhyme scheme and follows it gently.