Classic Poem

Hat die Natur sich auch verschlechtert

Has even Nature altered badly?
And does she ape what we began?
It seems to me the beasts and flowers
Deceive as readily as man.

The lily's purity I question;
She yields to love and seeks to stay
The butterfly that flits above her
And bears her chastity away.

I even doubt the modest virtue
Of violets. They have no shame,
But fling their scent like any wanton
And thirst in secret after fame.

I half suspect the song-bird's ardor
Expresses more than he can mean;
He overdoes his trills and raptures —
And does them only by routine.

The truth has disappeared, I fancy,
And simple faith has left us, too
Only the dogs still fawn around us,
And even they do not seem true.