By a thread I ne'er can sever,

For 'tis 'twined with magic skill,
Doth the cruel maid for ever

Hold me fast against my will.
While those magic chains confine me,
To her will I must resign me.

Ah, the change in truth is great!

Love! kind love! release me straight!

1775.
-----
TO BELINDA.

[This song was also written for Lily. Goethe mentions, at the end
of his Autobiography, that he overheard her singing it one
evening after he had taken his last farewell of her.]

WHEREFORE drag me to yon glittering eddy,

With resistless might?
Was I, then, not truly blest already

In the silent night?

In my secret chamber refuge taking,