Poem “To My Ideal” by Egon Schiele for Margarete Partonek, 30th Mar. 1906

Transcription:

To My Ideal.

I.
To art, I extend my right [hand]
To painting I hold it out,
If only there were something to second it,
In Klosterneuburg or Vienna.

II.
The coming or year after
I will have to go from here,
With hand and curly hair,
That is the artist’s best adornment.

III.
And the second – is my Gretchen,
I give you both my hands,
You are the sweetest girl ever,
My love, that I’d only ever find.

IV.
You rosy delightful nature,
You heart-wrenching figure,
Spring smiles lovingly at you
With blissful days, in silence shy.

V.
Only the moon shall see it one day,
He can then very well pass on;
But listen now and write to me
In brief – I love you.

E. [Egon] Schiele

March 30, 1906