Ph: Poetry Writing: Week 2: Stages By Herman Hesse - First Translation Poem by Brian Johnston

As every blossom wilts and every youth
Yields to old age so manifests every stage of life,
All wisdom and every virtue
Has its time, and cannot last forever.
At every call of life, the heart,
Wrapped in bravery and without regret,
Must be ready to take its leave and start again,
To embrace each new adventure.
For a magic lives in each beginning
That shelters and helps us to thrive.

Let us move calmly from place to place,
Clinging to nothing as if it were a home,
The 'Age' does not chain or confine our dreams
It guides our steps toward increased opportunity.
But homelike surroundings, creature comforts,
Tempt us to let down our guard.
Only those prepared to let go, to love revolution,
Have a chance to escape crippling habits.

Perhaps even the hour of our death
Will open fresh new vistas to challenge us,
Might life's call to life be never ending then?
Let it be so! Heart! Take your leave and health!

Herman Hesse - From his novel, The Glass Bead Game
Translation 1 by Brian Johnston
April 3,2017