Stefan George > Quotes

“The Word

Wonder or dream from distant land
I carried to my country's strand

And waited till the twilit norn
Had found the name within her bourn—

Then I could grasp it close and strong
It blooms and shines now the front along...

Once I returned from happy sail,
I had a prize so rich and frail,

She sought for long and tidings told:
"No like of this these depths enfold."

And straight it vanished from my hand,
The treasure never graced my land...

So I renounced and sadly see:
Where word breaks off no thing may be.”
― Stefan George, Das Neue Reich

“Fenster wo ich einst mit dir
Abends in die landschaft sah
Sind nun hell mit fremdem licht.

Pfad noch läuft vom tor wo du
Standest ohne umzuschaun
Dann ins tal hinunterbogst.

Bei der kehr warf nochmals auf
Mond dein bleiches angesicht.
Doch es war zu spät zum ruf.

Dunkel---schweigen---starre luft
Sinkt wie damals um das haus.
Alle freude nahmst du mit.”
― Stefan George, Der siebente Ring

“THE FIELDS
TO CARL AUGUST KLEIN

Salient curve of the silver sky
Arches the endless expanse of your somnolent fields.
Can you unriddle the fate which their furrows conceal,
All that we two for years passed by?
Under the willows dripping with new
Catkins, the children are listening entranced to the sound
Of a flute, buoyant and careless they caper and bound
Into a dusk of vermilion and blue.
Shining baubles weary the crone, and her gaze
Turns to the gentler resplendence of Thuja trees,
Only the care she bestows upon graves gives her ease,
Dimly she croons of a region of rays.
And those who slipped from the snares of delight,
But who, like us, on terrestrial wishes are fed —
Brooding friend, do you seek them in symbols and dread
Our adventure into night?”
― Stefan George, The Works of Stefan George