Part Three of John’s funeral just wrapped on Days of Our Lives, and it ended with two of the people whose lives, perhaps, John affected the most: Bo and Marlena. Bo made it to the funeral at the last minute to thank the man who gave up his own life to save him.
And just before him, Marlena stood to read a poem about love that she and John liked and reflect on how it touched their own lives. Marlena, though, didn’t name the poem or who wrote it. Luckily, for those curious, we tracked it down ourselves.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote the touching poem, but he wasn’t just a poet. Instead, von Goethe was a German Renaissance man living from 1749 until 1832. He was a scientist, philosopher, novelist, critic, politician, playwright and poet — among other things.
And he’s widely considered one of the most important and influential German writers of all time. Even if you haven’t heard of von Goethe (which, honestly, neither had we!), it’s a sure bet you’re familiar with some of his work — at least indirectly.
One of his most famous poems was “Der Zauberlehrling,” which translates to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” And if that’s familiar to you, it’s probably because it was the basis for what would be turned into an animated short for Mickey Mouse himself in Fantasia! (And later a live-action, but oft forgotten movie with Nicholas Cage.)
But back to the poem at hand that Marlena read. It goes:
“This is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us.”
It’s a beautiful sentiment, and perfect for John and Marlena. But it doesn’t, as far as we can tell, have a name in and of itself. It seems to have been first included in an 1853 anthology of von Goethe’s thoughts and meditations titled, Goethe’s Opinions on the World, Mankind, Literature, Science, and Art. It’s not exactly a pretty title, but it’s about as straightforward as it gets!
On Days of Our Lives, after reading the poem, Marlena marveled over all the seasons of love she and John had lived through in the almost 40 years they’d known each other. The thing about seasons, though, is that no matter how much we may love them, they can never last forever.
Marlena, though, has promised to carry those with John in her heart forever. And so, too, will Days of Our Lives‘ viewers
