Poems Quotes

“How Heavy the Days. . .

How heavy the days are.
There's not a fire that can warm me,
Not a sun to laugh with me,
Everything bare,
Everything cold and merciless,
And even the beloved, clear
Stars look desolately down,
Since I learned in my heart that
Love can die.”
― Hermann Hesse, Poems

“Here in this endless and gleaming wilderness
I was removed farther than ever from the world of men --
And I never saw so close and so clearly
The image in the mirror of my own soul.”
― Hermann Hesse, Poems

“The First Flowers

Beside the brook
Toward the willows,
During these days
So many yellow flowers have opened
Their eyes into gold.
I have long since lost my innocence, yet a memory
Touches my depth, the golden hours of morning, and gazes
Brilliantly upon me out of the eyes of flowers.
I was going to pick flowers;
Now I leave them all standing
And walk home, an old man.”
― Hermann Hesse, Poems

“Mountains at Night

The lake has died down,
The reed, black in its sleep,
Whispers in a dream.
Expanding immensely into the countryside,
The mountains loom, outspread.
They are not resting.
They breathe deeply, and hold themselves,
Pressed tightly, to one another.
Deeply breathing,
Laden with mute forces,
Caught in a wasting passion.”
― Hermann Hesse, Poems

“...
I was going to pick flowers;
Now I leave them all standing
And walk home, an old man.
[Ich wollte Blumen brechen gehn;/Nun lass ich sie alle stehn/Und gehe heim, ein alter Mann]”
― Hermann Hesse, Poems