AUGUST 28.

If my ills would admit of any cure, they would certainly be cured here. This is my birthday, and early in the morning I received a packet from Albert. Upon opening it, I found one of the pink ribbons which Lotte wore in her dress the first time I saw her, and which I had several times asked her to give me. With it were two volumes in duodecimo of Wetstein’s Homer, a book I had often wished for, to save me the inconvenience of carrying the large Ernestine edition with me upon my walks. You see how they anticipate my wishes, how well they understand all those little attentions of friendship, so superior to the costly presents of the great, which are humiliating. I kissed the ribbon a thousand times, and in every breath inhaled the remembrance of those happy and irrevocable days which filled me with the keenest joy. Such, Wilhelm, is our fate. I do not murmur at it: the flowers of life are but visionary. How many pass away, and leave no trace behind—how few yield any fruit—and the fruit itself, how rarely does it ripen! And yet there are flowers enough! and is it not strange, my friend, that we should suffer the little that does really ripen, to rot, decay, and perish unenjoyed? Farewell! This is a glorious summer. I often climb into the trees in Lotte’s orchard, and shake down the pears that hang on the highest branches. She stands below, and catches them as they fall.

八月二十八日

真的，如果我的病还有希望治好的话，那就唯有他们来医治。今天是我的生日，一大早我便收到了阿尔伯特差人送来的一个包裹。打开包裹，一个粉红色的蝴蝶结儿立刻跃入我眼帘。这是我初见绿蒂时她曾佩戴在胸前，以后我又多次请求她送给我的那个蝴蝶结呵！此外，包里还有两本六十四开的小书，威特施坦袖珍版的《荷马选集》，也是我久已想买的本子，以免在散步时老驮着埃尔涅斯特版的大部头。瞧，他们总是不等我开口就满足了我的愿望，总是想方设法向我作出友谊的表示。对我说来，这些小小的礼品比那种灿烂夺目的礼物贵重一千倍，因为后者只表明赠予者的矜夸，却贬低了我们的人格。我无数次地吻着那个蝴蝶结，每吸一口气，都吸到了对那为数不多的、一去不复返的日子用来充溢我身心的幸福的回忆。威廉啊，生活就是这样；而我也不抱怨，生命之花只是过眼烟云而已！多少花朵凋零了，连一点痕迹也不曾留下！能结果的何其少，果实能成熟的就更少了！不过，尽管如此，世间仍存在足够的果实；难道，我的兄长，难道我们能轻视这些已成熟的果实，对它不闻不问，不去享受它们，任它们白白腐烂掉么？

再见！此地的夏季很美，我常常坐在绿蒂家的园子里的果树上，手执摘果用的长杆，从树梢上的钩梨子。她站在树下，摘掉我钩给她的果实。