17 Nov 2022: "Stufen" (Steps/Stages) by Hermann Hesse

Below I added several English translations I found. I didn't include any random translations without a credited translators. If anyone has another translation they prefer, please share it in the comments. I'd be interested in discussing the translations and or philosophical ideas in the comments. I'm going to print, reread, and reflect a bit more before sharing my thoughts. Read you in the comments!

"Stufen" by Hermann Hesse

Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend
Dem Alter weicht, blüht jede Lebensstufe,
Blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
Zu ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
Bereit zum Abschied sein und Neubeginne,
Um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
In andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
Der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.

Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten
An keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen,
Der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln uns und engen,
Er will uns Stuf’ um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
Und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen,
Nur wer bereit zu Aufbruch ist und Reise,
Mag lähmender Gewöhnung sich entraffen.

Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
Uns neuen Räumen jung entgegen senden
Des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden…
Wohlan denn, Herz, nimm Abschied und gesunde!



English Translations



"Steps" translated by Peter Lewis

Just as every blossom fades
and all youth yield to old age,
so every stage of life, each flower of wisdom
and every virtue reaches its prime and cannot last forever.
Whenever life calls, the heart must be ready to leave
and make a fresh start and to enter bravely
into different and new liaisons.
And a magic inhabits every new beginning,
protecting us and helping us to live.

We should joyfully traverse real and realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world spirit does not seek to fetter us and hem us in
but to raise us up, step by step.
No sooner have we made ourselves at home and comfortable
in some sphere of life than we grow lax.
Only those who are prepared to venture forth
can cast off familiar, paralyzing old habits.

Maybe death's hour too will send us out newborn
toward new realms,
Life's call to us will never end...
Come then, my heart, take your leave and fire you well!



"Stages" translated by Richard and Clara Winston

As every flower fades and as all youth
Departs, so life at every stage,
So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
Blooms in its day and may not last forever.
Since life may summon us at every age
Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
Be ready bravely and without remorse
To find new light that old ties cannot give.
In all beginnings dwells a magic force
For guarding us and helping us to live.
Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence.
Even the hour of our death may send
Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
And life may summon us to newer races.
So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.



"Steps" translation by Walter A. Aue

Like ev'ry flower wilts, like youth is fading
and turns to age, so also one's achieving:
Each virtue and each wisdom needs parading
in one's own time, and must not last forever.
The heart must be, at each new call for leaving,
prepared to part and start without the tragic,
without the grief - with courage to endeavor
a novel bond, a disparate connection:
For each beginning bears a special magic
that nurtures living and bestows protection.

We'll walk from space to space in glad progression
and should not cling to one as homestead for us.
The cosmic spirit will not bind nor bore us;
It lifts and widens us in ev'ry session:
For hardly set in one of life's expanses
we make it home, and apathy commences.
But only he, who travels and takes chances,
can break the habits' paralyzing stances.

It might be, even, that the last of hours
will make us once again a youthful lover:
The call of life to us forever flowers...
Anon, my heart: Say farewell and recover!



"Stages" translated by Susanne Fiessler

Like every blossom wilts, and youth must yield
to age, so every stage of life must flower,
Like every wisdom, every virtue blooms
in its own time, and cannot last forever.
Our heart must be prepared at every call
of life, to bid farewell and start anew,
To give ourselves with valiance and no grief
to other, novel bonds out in the world.
And every new beginning holds a spell
that will protect us and will help us live.

We are to stride with joy through the expanses,
not hook our hearts to each place like a home
The cosmic spirit does not limit, shackle,
yet, stage by stage, it seeks to lift, expand us.
We're barely settled cosy in life's circle
and feel familiarized, when languor looms.
Only those prepared to leave and travel
just might escape the numbing habitudes.

Maybe the hour of our death will send,
yet, reborn, us to explore new spaces,
Because life's call to us will never end...
Go on then, heart, go bid farewell and heal!



"Stages" translated by Alan Collins

As every flower fades, and every youth
Turns grey, so also one’s achievements,
Each virtue and wisdom must submit more proof

At every step, passing through bereavements. 

At each new call the heart must be
 prepared
To part, at once, and start another kind of living
With courage to create, from grief and panic, 

Another novel bond, not sad but stronger: 

For each beginning bears a special magic 

Which nurtures all that breathes, by its aroma.

We walk from place to place in glad progression, 

And cannot cling to any place as home.

The spirit of the world will not bind or bore us, 

But wants to lift us up and over every session.
If set and fixed, in one of these expansions,

We stay at home, then apathy commences;
For only he who travels, takes one’s chances,

Can break the old hypnotic habit’s lances.

Perhaps it may be true that our dying hours 

Will send, anew, another youthful lover: 

The call of life, to us, forever flowers… 

And so, my heart: Go onward and recover!



"Steps" translated by Uda Goode

As every flower wilts, and all youth gives way to old age,
Each step on the journey of life blooms.
Each insight, too, and every truth believed in
Flowers in its own time
And may not last for ever.

At every call of life, the heart must be ready to depart
And to start anew.
To be courageous, not full of sorrow,
And then to make new bonds, and new connections.

And in each new beginning dwells a magic, an enchantment,
That protects us
And helps us
To live.

It is essential that we walk and move from one stage of our lives to the next
With joy!
Not to try to grasp and keep hold of a particular one
As we might onto a childhood toy or memory.

The spirit of the world and that of life does not intend to strangle or subdue us.
We are being willed to grow, to broaden, and to live,
Step … by step.

As soon as we become too familiar and comfortable with one particular stage or room,
The energy from it begins to fail.
Only those who are prepared to break camp
And venture forth
Can free themselves from that sapping of energy.

Even when we are at death’s hour,
We may be sent to yet another realm,
New stage,
New step on our way:
Our hearts full of the spirit of adventure,
Youthful again.



"Steps" translated by Simon Wilks

As every flower and every youth
moves into age, each phase of life bursts forth;
Each pearl of wisdom, and each virtue, blooms
According to its time, but none can last forever.
The heart must at each summoning of life
Be ready to depart and begin anew
Taking courage in itself and, without tears,
Giving itself to new and different bonds.
Within each new beginning lives a magic
that protects us and which helps us live.
We must blithely stride from world to world
Considering none as home.

The spirit of the earth will neither bind us nor restrict
but will, from stage to stage, raise and broaden us.
If we should settle in a sphere of life,
And feel complacent, then we lose our grip.
Only those prepared to break away and travel
Can break the shackles of familiarity.

Even at the hour of death, perhaps, it will
Send us, young again, to new worlds
Life’s call to us will never end
Take heart, my heart, take leave and fare you well.



"Stages" translated by Google

Like every blossom fades and every youth
Age gives way, every stage of life flourishes,
Every wisdom blooms too, and every virtue
In its time and must not last forever.
The heart must with every calling of life
Be ready for goodbyes and new beginnings,
To stand up in bravery and without grief
In others, to give new bonds.
And there is magic in every beginning
Who protects us and who helps us to live.

We should happily walk through room after room
Clinging to none like a home
The world spirit does not want to tie us up and restrict us,
He wants to raise us step by step, widen us.
Hardly are we at home in a circle of life
And snugly settled in, then slackening threatens,
Only those who are ready to set off and travel,
May break free from paralyzing habit.

It may also be the hour of death
Send us young towards new spaces
Life's call to us will never end...
Well then, heart, say goodbye and be well!