Orphic Primary Words
Written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A stanza by Goethe articulating his view that the ends to which a human aspires are invariably determined by a person's unchangeable innate character:
As on the day that lent you to the world
The sun received the planet's greetings,
At once and eternally you have thrived
According to the law whereby you stepped forth.
So must you be, from yourself you cannot flee,
So have the Sibyls and the prophets said;
No time, no power breaks into little pieces
The form here stamped and in life developed.