Gingo Biloba Dieses Baums Blatt, der von Osten Meinem Garten anvertraut, Gibt geheimen Sinn zu kosten, Wie's den Wissenden erbaut. Ist es Ein lebendig Wesen, Das sich in sich selbst getrennt? Sind es zwei, die sich erlesen, Dass man sie als eines kennt. Solche Frage zu erwidern, Fand ich wohl den rechten Sinn. Fühlst du nicht in meinen Liedern, Dass ich Eins und doppelt bin.	Ginkgo Biloba This tree's leaf, which here the East In my garden propagates, On its secret sense we feast Such as sages elevates. Is it but one being single Which as same itself divides? Are there two which choose to mingle So that one each other hides? As the answer to such question I have found a sense that's true: Is it not my songs' suggestion That I'm one and also two?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Poems of the West and East Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München, 1979, pp. 108-111
Gingo Biloba Dieses Baums Blatt, der von Osten Meinem Garten anvertraut, Gibt geheimen Sinn zu kosten, Wie's den Wissenden erbaut. Ist es Ein lebendig Wesen, Das sich in sich selbst getrennt? Sind es zwei, die sich erlesen, Dass man sie als eines kennt. Solche Frage zu erwidern, Fand ich wohl den rechten Sinn. Fühlst du nicht in meinen Liedern, Dass ich Eins und doppelt bin.	Ginkgo Biloba In my garden's care and favour From the East this tree's leaf shows Secret sense for us to savour And uplifts the one who knows. Is it but one being single Which as same itself divides? Are there two which choose to mingle So that each as one now hides? As the answer to such question I have found a sense that's true: Is it not my songs' suggestion That I'm one and also two?
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Poems of the West and East Verse Translation by John Whaley, Peter Lang, Berne, 1998, pp. 260-261

September 15, 1815 Boisserée's Diary Goethe gave the Willemer a leaf of a curious East Indian plant as a symbol of friendship. The leaf is so formed that one does not know whether it is one leaf, divided into two, or two leaves joined into a single one. September 19, 1815 It had been agreed that Goethe and Boisserée were to go to Heidelberg on the 20th and that the Willemers were to visit them there the following week. During these last evenings Marianne sang with very deep emotion, also more expressively. She sang Goethe's "Know'st thou the land," and ballads and other lyrics of his... After supper Goethe read poems... On the last evening of all Marianne sang folksongs and Mozart. She sang from Don Giovanni with such seductive magic that Goethe called her a little Don Giovanni. Thereupon Goethe read a group of his new love poems and Marianne listened silently. She had wound about her head a turban-like scarf of yellow which Goethe had given her. Willemer dozed. This went on until 1 o'clock. I accompanied the poet to the door of his room. September 20, 1815 Set out for Heidelberg. On the way we talked about the continuation of Faust. His works. The sequel to Wilhelm Meister. The limited number of conceivable love intrigues... At noon we arrived in Heidelberg. October 5, 1815 Boisserée's Diary Glad to be in the carriage on the way back to Heidelberg. Recapitulation. Other old memories arise in Goethe. Forty years ago a mounted messenger from the Duke had summoned him from Frankfurt to Heidelberg... Later on the drive he spoke of The Elective Affinities. He emphasized the rapidity and inevitableness of the catastrophe. The stars had arisen. He spoke of his relation to Minna Herzlieb, the prototype of Ottilie; how he had loved her and how unhappy she had made him. Finally his speech became strangely mystical and prophetic. He would intersperse verses. At last, weary, irritated, half mystic in mood, half sleepy, we arrived in the sharp cold under a brilliant starlit sky in Heidelberg. Heidelberg, October 6, 1815 To Willemer My dear and honored Friend, Surely you must know that my mind and heart are filled with that beautiful place of yours, the groves you planted and the house you built— that I see them more vividly in absence and repeat to myself all the kindness and affection and pleasure and indulgence I enjoyed. I am sure that my image has not been driven from those scenes and meets you often. I imagine an hundred things— when and how and where I shall see you again... But things are so that I must hurry home, comforted by the circumstance that I am on my appointed way and may therefore direct a purer yearning toward the friends whom I am leaving... Once more my heartfelt thanks for all your kindness and affection. Yet this thanks were not just, if it did not assume the form of pain. And I leave it to you, who know the human heart, to convey my message. Ludwig Lewisohn, Goethe: The Story of a Man Being the life of Johann Wolfgang Goethe as told in his own words and the words of his contemporaries. Volume 2, Farrar, Strausss & Co., NY, 1949, pp. 244, 250 The lyric "Gingko Biloba" symbolizes the nature of the entire cycle: unity in duality, East and West combined yet each preserving its essence; the poet, like the gingko leaf, is both "single and double." Similary, the poems are both serious and ironic; both intellectual and emotional; the speaker is both Hatem and the "real" Goethe; the love celebrated here contains happiness and resignation. Henry Hatfield, Goethe: A Critical Introduction Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1964, pp. 114-115 [Stanford: PT2177.H37.1965] John Armstrong, Love, Life, Goethe: how to be happy in an imperfect world Allen Lane/Penguin Books, London, 2006 [Stanford: PT2177.A76.2006]

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