Faust I 158-165

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Use them then, these delightful powers,
And do your poet’s work, rather as when
One falls in love to pass the amorous hours.
One meets by chance, one lingers, one is smitten,
And one’s involvement gradually increases;
Happiness grows, but soon enough it ceases;
Joy ends in tears. And somehow then
It all becomes a novel, ready written.

translated by: David Luke