Dear Don, I don´t know if you can forward this
material to the list. I got it from the internet, while researching
Goethe´s Gingko Biloba poem ( from the "Westöstlichen Diwan) to
compare it with the various references to Maidenhair fern and Gingko leaves in
ADA.
this is the address: www.xs4all.nl/~kwanten/goethe.htm
The German poet, scientist, botanist and
philosopher, dedicated the poem below to his former lover Marianne von Willemer.
The Ginkgo leaf symbolizes Goethe's theme, one and double. The Ginkgo tree that
was Goethe's inspiration to write the poem in 1815, grew in Heidelberg, Germany.
On the picture below you see the poem in Goethe's original handwriting.
This poem was published in Goethe's work 'West-östlichen Divan' (book Suleika) of 1819, titled 'Gingo biloba' for literally reasons.
This poem was published in Goethe's work 'West-östlichen Divan' (book Suleika) of 1819, titled 'Gingo biloba' for literally reasons.
Copy of the original of Goethe's poem with Ginkgo-leaves
pasted on it by Goethe himself.
15, September 1815.
Original ( fair copy) in Goethe Museum, Düsseldorf (Germany).
21,4 x 32,7 cm
15, September 1815.
Original ( fair copy) in Goethe Museum, Düsseldorf (Germany).
21,4 x 32,7 cm
This leaf from a tree in the
East,
Has been given to my
garden.
It reveals a
certain secret,
Which
pleases me and thoughtful people.
Does it represent One living
creature
Which has divided
itself?
Or are these Two,
which have decided,
That
they should be as One?
To reply to such a Question,
I found the right answer:
Do you notice in my songs and
verses
That I am One and
Two?