JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
The Holy Longing
Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,
Because the massman will mock it right away.
I praise what is truly alive,
What longs to be burned to death.
In the calm water of the love-nights,
Where you were begotten, where you have begotten,
A strange feeling comes over you
When you see the silent candle burning.
Now you are no longer caught
In the obsession with darkness,
And a desire for higher love-making
Sweeps you upward.
Distance does not make you falter,
Now, arriving in magic, flying,
And, finally, insane for the light,
You are the butterfly and you are gone.
And so long as you haven’t experienced
This: to die and so to grow,
You are only a troubled guest
On the dark earth.I love this poem by Goethe for the way it speaks of the metaphorical death we should all welcome. Growth is impossible without death. This means not only the recognition of our own mortality but also the many "deaths" we experience as we pass through thresholds of experience.
Recently, I was discussing this concept with creative writing students; they seemed confused and then one young man raised his hand and said: "I get it! It's like that scene in Star Wars when Luke goes into the cave to face his deepest fears. He slays Darth Vader, only to see his own face instead of Vader's when he looks behind the mask."
1 comment:
How beautifully Goethe urges us forward along the path of life. This poem suggests we are not losing but gaining by pressing on. There will always be love-nights, in many different forms, and we will experience the "higher love-making" as a reward for moving forward. We can choose to be burned in the silent candle's flame and learn so much more and be re-born in the process. Knowing, acknowledging, and moving beyond our Shadow.
I am so happy your students got it - their frame of reference is fine, just so long as they got it! Let's hear it for George Lucas!
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