HIDDEN LANDS(1924)

 


The Stars

Now it is at an end. Now I awake.

And it is peaceful and easy to walk,

when there is nothing to wait for any longer

and nothing to carry about.

 

Red gold yesterday, dry leaf today.

Tomorrow there is nothing.

But the stars shine quietly as before

tonight in space all around.

 

Now I want to give myself away,

so I have not a scrap left.

Tell me, stars, will you accept

a soul, which has no treasures?

 

For you is freedom flawless,

in the distant peace of eternity.

This never saw an empty sky,

which gave to you its dream and battle.

 


To a Friend

On fully out-stretched wings the eagle soars.

The air is thin, where he glides, and difficult to breathe.

In the mountain-winter's desolate air he is much alone.

Dusk and cold are his escorts -

his only joy

the joy of feeling himself flying on strong wings.

 

So high you travel into the emptiest winter skies,

as brave as the eagle by virtue of your flashing will.

You denied yourself striving for happiness, you chose

the steep

paths, which frighten us, the weak.

So pale you wander on,

wander on with brisk and vigorous step like the wind.

 

My world resembles yours, and yet it is not the same.

Laughing my star dances amongst the riddles of the

stars.

Your iron-grey joy, I love it from afar.

Let me walk by your side

and let my eyes reach

into your wintry world and your flashing will!

 


Evening Stillness

Feel how near Reality lives.

She breathes close by

on still evenings.

Perhaps she shows herself when nobody realises.

 

The sun glides over grass and rock.

In her silent game

is the spirit of life hidden.

Never was he so near as this evening.

 

I met a stranger, who was silent.

If I had stretched out my hand,

I would have brushed against his soul,

as we passed each other with timid steps.

 


Hush Now

Each night on Earth is full of pain.

Hush now, heart.

These hard souls, hard shields

reflect light from the home of the stars.

 

Your lament makes you weaker.

Hush now, heart.

Mere silence heals, silence cures,

intactly pure and innocently true.

 

Seek the hot life of torment!

Hush now, heart.

No-one is made strong through wound and

fever.

Light just as steel is heaven's stronghold.

 


The Wish

Oh let me live properly

and properly one day to die

so that I move next to reality

in bad as in good.

And let me be still

and respect what I see,

so that must be that

and nothing more.

 

If from my long life

one day was left,

then I would seek the most beautiful thing

that life on Earth has.

The most beautiful thing on Earth

is honesty,

but it makes loneliness into life

and reality.

 

So is the wide world

a leaf of a lady's mantle

and in the bowl rests

a clear drop of water.

The only still drop

is the apple of life's eye.

Oh make me worthy of seeing inside it!

Oh make me pure!


About me Words from the heart My beautiful boy The kindest of souls

Words by my favourite writers Random pictures