secret tones as in the pace of the stars...

"sea waves stream on the beach rocks.
again, every time, star and tree,
cloud and bird, my close kindred;
the stone greets me as a brother,
the unending sea calls me, friendly.
my road, that i do not understand, leads me
toward a blue, lost distance,
nowhere a meaning, nowhere a definite goal -
nevertheless, every forest brook speaks to me,
and every humming fly, of a deep law,
a right way that is holy,
whose firmament spreads out above me also,
whose secret tones,
as in the pace of the stars,
beats time in my heart as well."

hermann hesse, 1911, fragment from holiday music in the evening, from poems translated by james wright, 1970. (image: RPPC of charley trigg, april 18, 1910, sent to miss hazel...)

the fields full of wonder...

"...now he made no attempt to distinguish the different species of birds or recognize the bushes by their buds. all he saw was the general activity, the colors bursting forth everywhere; he breathed in the smell of the young leaves, felt how much softer and intoxicating the air was and walked through the fields full of wonder... he constantly saw other objects than those that actually surrounded him. what they were he did not really know himself and he did not give it much thought. they were bright, delicate, unusual dreams which surrounded him like paintings... pure paintings only to be contemplated, but this contemplation was a kind of experience too... it was breathing a strange air... full of lightness and delicate dream-like pungency..."

hermann hesse, beneath the wheel, 1906
(1920 watercolor also by hesse)