Magic-laden, hovers near.
And alas! ye're watered ever
By a stream of tears that rill
From mine eyes--tears ceasing never,
Tears of love that nought can still.
The lyrical effect here depends upon the blending of a single impression of Nature with the passing mood--an occasional poem rare even for Goethe.
In a letter to Frau von Stein he admitted that he was greatly influenced by Nature:
I have slept well and am quite awake, only a quiet sadness lies upon my soul.... The weather agrees exactly with my state of mind, and I begin to believe that it is the weather around me which has the most immediate effect upon me, and the great world thrills my little one with her own mood.
Again, To the Moon, in the spring 1778, expresses perfect communion between Nature and feeling:
Flooded are the brakes and dells