Poems for Hermann Hesse by:
Wolf Britain, Poet and Activist
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A Series of Poems in Dedication to Favorite Artist, Poet and Author, Hermann Hesse (1877-1962):
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Unless Otherwise Noted, All Material Copyright © 1998-2010 in the U.S.A. and Internationally by Wolf Britain. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Chat
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Auctions
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! Travel
Yahoo! Shopping
Unless Otherwise Noted, All Material Copyright © 1998-2010 in the U.S.A. and Internationally by Wolf Britain. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Chat
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Auctions
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! Travel
Yahoo! Shopping
Unless Otherwise Noted, All Material Copyright © 1998-2010 in the U.S.A. and Internationally by Wolf Britain. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Chat
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Auctions
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! Travel
Yahoo! Shopping
Unless Otherwise Noted, All Material Copyright © 1998-2010 in the U.S.A. and Internationally by Wolf Britain. All Rights Reserved.
Prescript: I'm looking for someone to go 50/50 with me and move to either Ecuador, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico where we can make a very low income go much further with a lower cost, and higher standard, of living (than living in the States on such a low income). This includes an only income of Social Security Disability (SSDI) and/or Retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration most definitely DOES allow SSDI and/or Retirement benefits, but not Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, to be sent to recipients in most other countries! There are many books about moving and living abroad available at the public library and/or at Amazon.com . Naturally, I realize we would probably have to spend some time getting to know eachother, and finding out if we're compatible, before moving abroad together. We could even have our own separate "spaces" by choosing to rent or purchase a house or apartment with separate quarters, and still save considerable money in monthly costs compared to living in the States on the same income. If you might be interested, want to ask me some questions, and/or want to discuss it, please e-mail me at the address below.
CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE
(Click on the link to go to that part of the page):
Coldness And Warmth
Sanity Or Insanity?
All Grown Up Or Down?
And "Steppenwolf"
The Spirit Of Truth Has Now Come
And "Holiday Music In The Evening"
Homesickness
"Departure From The Jungle"
And "On A Journey"
"All Deaths"
And "Lonesome Night"
"The Poet"
And 'Am I Here?'
Nameless And Unlettered
Alpha And Omega
"Country Cemetery"
"Lost"
"Glorious World"(?)
And "The Wanderer Speaking To Death"
"Magic Of Colors"
Beautiful New World 1,
Near Future
Beautiful New World 2,
Master Poet
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING POEMS, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WRITTEN BY HERMANN HESSE THAT ARE INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT, ARE COPYRIGHTED (c) 1996-2010 IN THE U.S.A. AND INTERNATIONALLY BY S. WOLF BRITAIN. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 1
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Allegro (1)
Coldness and Warmth
Calling out to you and getting only
The cold answering machine
Forever screening all the calls.
Beseeching you to come to me,
Visit and be quiet and soak in
All that you see around you
In my home, without judgment
Of me or like I judge you.
Look for meaning in all
That you see is there to me
Or that is there for you,
Without condemning the unusual,
Accept the uniqueness,
Be blessed by the message.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 2
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Andante (1)
Sanity or Insanity?
There is a method to my "madness"
In everything I do or don't do,
Good reason for my melancholia,
My avoidance of following the pack
And being just another of the soulless.
My friends, I love you always,
Even if you don't love me.
We have had joy and we have had
Sorrow in that order.
From "childhood" to it's end,
We shared whatever we shared,
From music to argument,
Philosophizing to the peace pipe,
Waterfalls to religion,
Loneliness and joy in sorrow,
To mirth and abandon.
Whatever we shared was pure,
Until our innocence died;
Along with our childlikeness,
We disappeared into the "cares"
Of this world which are worth nothing.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 3
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (1)
All Grown Up or Down?
Why did we disappear to our selves
And to each other and become "adults"?
Oh why did we sell out to money and time
Which belong only to the shallow and small?
"Steppenwolf"
""....To the rest, to the real men belongs nothing.
Nothing but death. And "eternity"".
"You mean a name, and fame with posterity?"
"No, Steppenwolf, not fame. Has that any value?
And do you think that all true and real men,
Have been famous and known to posterity?"
"No, of course not(,)" answer the Steppenwolves.
"....I say to myself: all we who ask too much
And have a dimension too many could not contrive
To live at all if there were not another air
To breathe outside the air of this world,
If there were not eternity at the back of time;
And this is the kingdom of truth.
The music of Mozart belongs there and the poetry
Of (our) great poets. The saints, too, belong there,
Who have worked wonders and suffered martyrdom
And given a great example to men.
But the image of every true act, the strength
Of every true feeling, belongs to eternity
Just as much, even though no one knows of it
Or sees it or records it or hands it down to posterity...."" 1
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 4
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (2)
The Spirit of Truth Has Now Come
"Ah, (Steppenwolf), we have to stumble through so much dirt
And humbug before we reach home. And we have no one
To guide us. Our only guide is our homesickness...." 1
"Holiday Music in the Evening"
"....A dream gives what the day wore out;
At night, when the conscious will surrenders,
Some powers, set free, reach upward,
Sensing something Godly, and following.
The woods rustle, and the stream, and through the night blue sky
Of the quick soul, the summer lightning blows.
The world and my self, everything
Within and without me, grows into one.
Clouds drift through my heart, woods dream my dream,
House and pear tree tell me the forgotten story of common childhood.
"Streams resound and gorges cast shadows in me,
The moon, and the faint star, my close friends.
But the mild night, that bows with its gentle clouds above me,
Has my mother's face, kisses me, smiling, with inexhaustible love,
Shakes her head dreamily as she used to do, and her hair
Waves through the world, and within it
The thousand stars, shuddering, turn pale." 2
[1902]
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 5
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (3)
Homesickness
We are homesick for the sweet peace,
Rest, and sleep of death and rebirth,
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, energy
To energy, matter to matter.
Whether we realize it or not, we are
Tired of convincing ourselves that we
Are something when we are nothing,
And nothing when we are something.
We all long for True Love and Peace and
Joy and Sorrow and Freedom, and for other
True longings that are worth something
And anything to obtain.
But there are so few people who find them
And become True Human Beings, whilst the
Majority sleep a walking death, blind to
The meaninglessness, the hopelessness of
This life, convincing themselves that it
Is "worthwhile", "living" it "as best they can",
While surrounded by and filled with suffering and
Loneliness and sorrow and starvation and death,
They do little or nothing to unconditionally and
Non-hypocritically alleviate.
Instead they in vain, and vainly, seek to fill
Their voids with love of money, fame, power,
The falseness of time, or their other particular,
Personal vanities, while all around them is dying,
And dying to never know True Life, Hope, Health,
Happiness, Kindness, Self-sacrifice, Commitment,
And Unconditional Love.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 6
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (4)
"Departure from the Jungle"
"....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." 3
[1915]
"On A Journey"
"Don't be downcast, soon the night will come,
When we can see the cool moon laughing in secret
Over the faint countryside, and we rest, hand in hand.
Don't be downcast, the time will soon come
When we can have rest. Our small crosses will stand
On the bright edge of the road together,
And rain fall, and snow fall, and the winds come and go." 4
[1911]
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 7
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (5)
"All Deaths"
"....O quivering tensed bow, when the raging fist of longing
Commands both poles of life to bend to each other!
Yet often, and many times over,
You will hunt me down from death to birth
On the painful track of the creations,
The glorious track of the creations." 5
[1921]
"Lonesome Night"
"You brothers, who are mine,
Poor people, near and far,
Longing for every star,
Dream of relief from pain,
You, stumbling dumb
At night, as pale stars break,
Lift your thin hands for some
Hope, and suffer, and wake,
Poor muddling commonplace,
You sailors who must live
Unstarred by hopelessness,
We share a single face.
Give me my welcome back." 6
[1902]
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 8
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Andante (2)
"The Poet"
"....Only the poet is missing,
The lonely one who looks on,
The bearer of human longing, the pale image
Of whom the future, the fulfillment of the world
Has no further need. Many garlands
Wilt on his grave,
But no one remembers him." 7
[1911]
Am I Here?
Here I am!
Just another lonely poet
With no body to lay his head upon,
Having no beautiful canyon
To plunge my arrow deep into.
Here I am!
Myself a wide void
For you to pour your ignorance into,
Joyless in my shame
And all alone in my anguish.
Here I am!
Your soul-brother
With no true companions,
A minstrel of truth
Restless in my grave.
Here I am!
Tossing and turning out
Literature for you to absorb,
That so very few "get"
But go on not understanding.
Are you there?!
Where are you?
ALL OF THE FOREGOING POEMS, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WRITTEN BY HERMANN HESSE THAT ARE INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT, ARE COPYRIGHTED (c) 1996-2010 IN THE U.S.A. AND INTERNATIONALLY BY S. WOLF BRITAIN. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
Continued below:
Continued:
MORE OF MY SERIES OF POEMS IN DEDICATION TO HERMANN HESSE. ALL OF THE POEMS, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WRITTEN BY HERMANN HESSE THAT ARE INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT, ARE COPYRIGHTED (c) 1996-2010 IN THE U.S.A. AND INTERNATIONALLY BY S. WOLF BRITAIN. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 9
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Andante (3)
Nameless and Unlettered
I am the untitled and anonymous,
An androgynous figment of your imagination,
While you are in my fantasy an illusion too;
Having dreamed each other up,
Now we wish each other better than they are.
Dissatisfied with life as it is,
We keep on trying to improve our lots,
Making better what is not recoverable,
And refuse to believe that the only way
To correct the disaster we have brought down
Upon ourselves is for all of it to be destroyed;
For everything to be started all over again,
Restoring what was initiated in the beginning,
The perfection our fore-parents inherited
From our Maker and be re-created
Into the image we originated out of.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 10
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (6)
Alpha and Omega
As the galaxies spiral from the Center
Of the universe where there is no chaos,
So we too issued forth and must be reborn
To that unconditionally loving world
That doesn't exist in the present scheme of things
As they are now upon this earth;
But all things will be made new,
Far surpassing any "reality" we now know,
And there will be no more corruption or sorrows;
Wherefore, come quickly, Alpha and Omega.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 11
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (7)
"Country Cemetery"
"Among the crosses hung with ivy,
Gentle sunlight, fragrance, and the humming of bees.
Blessed ones, who lie sheltered,
Nestled against the heart of the good earth,
Blessed, who have come home, gentle and nameless,
To rest in the mother's lap.
But listen, from the hives and blossoms
Longing for life sings to me.
Out of the tangled roots of dreams
The long dead being breaks into the light,
The ruins of life, darkly buried,
Transform themselves and demand the present,
And the queenly earth-mother
Shudders in the effort of birth.
The sweet treasure of peace in the hallowed grave
Rocks gently as a dream in the night.
The dream of death is only the dark smoke
Under which the fires of life are burning." 8
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 12
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Adagio (8)
"Lost"
"Sleepwalker, I feel my way through forest and gorge,
Fantastically around me a magic circle glows;
Not caring whether I'm courted or cursed,
I follow truly my inner calling.
How often that reality in which they live
Has wakened me and summoned me to itself!
I stood there disillusioned and frightened
And soon crept away again.
Oh, warm home that they steal me away from,
Oh, dream of love that they trouble in me,
I flee back to you down a thousand
Close paths, as water returns to the sea.
Springs lead me in secret with their melodies,
Dream birds ruffle their brilliant plumage;
My childhood rings forth as if it were new,
In golden strands of light and the sweet song of bees,
There I find myself sobbing near the mother again." 9
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 13
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Andante (4)
"Glorious World"(?)
"....Often I tried the frightening way of "reality,"
Where things that count are profession, law, fashion, finance,
But disillusioned and freed I fled away alone
To the other side, the place of dreams and blessed folly...." 10
"The Wanderer Speaking to Death"
"You will come to me too some day,
You will not forget me.
And the torment ends,
And the fetter breaks.
Still, you seem strange and far,
Dear brother death.
You stand like a cold star
Above my trouble.
But some day you will be near
And full of flames.
Come, beloved, I am here,
Take me, I am yours." 11
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 14
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Allegro (2)
"Magic of Colors"
"God's breath, here and there,
Heaven above, heaven below,
Light sings its songs a thousand times,
God becomes the world in so many colors.
White to black, warm to cool
Feel themselves newly drawn,
And forever out of the whirling chaos
The rainbow rises.
And so God's light
Wanders in a thousand forms,
Created and shaped together.
And we cherish Him as the sun." 12
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 15
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Allegro (3)
Beautiful New World 1
Near Future
Just wait until those who are worthy
Experience the beautiful new world
In store for them at the end of this one!
It will be absolutely magnificent
And is virtually indescribable.
No one there will lack for anything
Wonderful and incredible,
As they experience nothing but
Happiness and tranquillity
Always and eternally.
UNTITLED AND ANONYMOUS 16
(In Honor of the Great Poet, Hermann Hesse [1877-1962])
Allegro (4)
Beautiful New World 2
Master Poet
True poets, like Master Hesse,
Have been inspired to describe
The wonder and glory
Of the future world
For all of us to regard;
But most of us hold
That realm to only be a fallacy,
Even though there is so much evidence
Of it's actuality and subsistance
And that it is the place to be desired.
There we will meet The "Immortal"
Of all "Immortals", face to face,
The Master Poet of all master poets
Who Wrote the Holy Universe into being
Creating heaven and the Earth made New
Simply by speaking them into existence
Through the Power of His Words alone
Which have the Greatest Ability of All
To Write the Poetry of Infinite Eternity
And bring us to the "Immortal" Master Poet!
________________________
1-7 POEMS, by Hermann Hesse, Selected and translated by James Wright, Copyright © 1970 by James Wright, Library of Congress catalog card number: 78-109558, Published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc. N.Y., First edition, 1970 (The quotation from Steppenwolf translated by Basil Creighton; copyright 1929, © 1957 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.)
8-12 WANDERING, Notes and Sketches by Hermann Hesse, Translated by James Wright, Translation copyright © 1972 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., First printing, 1972, Library of Congress catalog card number: 73-164539, Translated from the German, Wanderung: Aufzeichnungen, Copyright S. Fischer Verlag, 1920, the text included in Gesammelte Schriften, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin und Frankfurt/M, 1957.
ALL OF THE FOREGOING POEMS, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WRITTEN BY HERMANN HESSE THAT ARE INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT, ARE COPYRIGHTED (c) 1996-2010 IN THE U.S.A. AND INTERNATIONALLY BY S. WOLF BRITAIN. ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED.
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Postscript: I'm looking for someone to go 50/50 with me and move to either Ecuador, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico where we can make a very low income go much further with a lower cost, and higher standard, of living (than living in the States on such a low income). This includes an only income of Social Security Disability (SSDI) and/or Retirement benefits. The Social Security Administration most definitely DOES allow SSDI and/or Retirement benefits, but not Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, to be sent to recipients in most other countries! There are many books about moving and living abroad available at the public library and/or at Amazon.com . Naturally, I realize we would probably have to spend some time getting to know eachother, and finding out if we're compatible, before moving abroad together. We could even have our own separate "spaces" by choosing to rent or purchase a house or apartment with separate quarters, and still save considerable money in monthly costs compared to living in the States on the same income. If you might be interested, want to ask me some questions, and/or want to discuss it, please e-mail me at the address below.
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