Amerika, du hast es besser
als unser Kontinent, der alte
Hast keine verfallenen Schlösser
und keine Basalte.
Dich stört nicht im Innern
Zu lebendiger Zeit
Unnützes Erinnern
und vergeblicher Streit.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, c. 1830
America, you have it better
Than our old continent.
You have no tumbledown castles
And no basalt deposits.
Your present is not disturbed deep down by
Useless remembrance and vain strife.
Use the present with good fortune!
And if your children write poetry,
May a kindly fate guard them from writing
Stories of knights, rascals, and spectres.
Translation by Marilyn Barnett