"Divinity" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 Divinity                                                 

Let man be noble,

Generous and good:

For that alone

Distinguishes him

From all the living

Beings we know.

Hail to the unknown

Higher beings

Of our intuition!

Let man resemble them;

Let his example

Teach us to believe in them.

For the realm on nature

Is unfeeling:

The sun sheds its light

Over evil and good

And the moon and the stars

Shine on the criminal

As on the best of us.

The wind and the rivers

The hail and the thunder

Storm on their way

And snatch one victim

After another

As they rush past.

So too does blind fortune

Grope though the crowd, now

Seizing a young boy’s

Curly-haired innocence

And now the bald pate

Of the old and guilty.

As great, everlasting,

Adamantine laws

Dictate, we must all

Complete the cycles

Of our existence.

Only mankind

Can do the impossible:

He can distinguish,

He chooses and judges,

He can give permanence

To the moment.

He alone may

Reward the good

And punish the wicked;

He may heal and save

And usefully bind

All that strays and wanders.

And we revere

The immortals, as if

They were human beings

Who do on a great scale

What little the best of us

Does or endeavours.

Let the noble man

Be generous and good,

Tirelessly achieving

What is just and useful:

Let him be a model

For those being whom he surmises.

(from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Selected Poetry, Penguin Classics, 2005, pp. 52-57)