Pain : Hermann Hesse

Pain

Pain is a master who makes us small,
a fire burning us poorer,
it splits us from our daily lives,
blazes and keeps us apart.

Wisdom and love diminish,
trust and hope turn flighty and thin;
pain's way of loving is jealous and wild-
we melt down and are drawn toward soul.

The earthly form, the "I", contracts
as it bucks and bridles against the flames,
then quietly sinks into dust
and surrenders itself to the master.
~ Hermann Hesse
 ('Autumn Poems' from "The Seasons of Life" A Companion for the Poetic Journey)
Translated with commentary by Ludwig Max Fischer and Stanley Fefferman