Texts and Archives

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

With Inner Devotion

Novalis, «Christianity or Europe: 1799», in Philosophical, Literary, and Poetic Writings, tr. James D. Reid (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 242:

. . . [L]oving souls preserve locks of hair or notes from their deceased sweethearts,1 and feed upon their sweet ardor until death reunites them. With inner devotion one collected everything that once belonged to these beloved souls, and those who received or only touched one of these consoling relics considered themselves fortunate.

1. According to the editors of HKA, Novalis did just this after the death of Sophie. 

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Woman's Oaths

Heinrich Heine, Lyrical Interlude (1822-23) = Lyrisches Intermezzo, XIII., tr. Edgar Alfred Bowring:

        Swear not at all, but only kiss!
            All woman’s oaths I hold amiss;
        Thy word is sweet, but sweeter far
        The kisses that my guerdon are.
        These keep I, while thy words but seem
        A passing cloud, or fragrant dream.

          O schwöre nicht und küsse nur,
        Ich glaube keinem Weiberschwur!
        Dein Wort ist süß, doch süßer ist
        Der Kuß, den ich dir abgeküßt;
        Den hab’ ich, und dran glaub’ ich auch,
        Das Wort ist eitel Dunst und Hauch.