30 July 2019

Free.

van Gogh, The Gardener, 1889


You wanted greater things
But love forces all of us down
And sorrow bows us still harder.
They bend us back where we began.

Are there not in the hallowed night
Also right things?
Things that are straight and true?

So I learned.
For never, as mortal teachers do,
Have you, my deities,
Upholders of all things
Led me with caution
On level pathways.

The gods say to humans,
"Taste everything
And learn by that nourishment
To give thanks for all things
And know what it is to be free to quit
And go where you like.

Friedrich Hölderlin

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