When Geometric Diagrams...

by Novalis

English version by Robert Bly
Original Language German

When geometric diagrams and digits
Are no longer the keys to living things,
When people who go about singing or kissing
Know deeper things than the great scholars,
When society is returned once more
To unimprisoned life, and to the universe,
And when light and darkness mate
Once more and make something entirely transparent,
And people see in poems and fairy tales
The true history of the world,
Then our entire twisted nature will turn
And run when a single secret word is spoken.

-- from News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness, Edited by Robert Bly

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Recommended Books: Novalis

News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness Hymns to the Night: Spiritual Songs Hymns to the Night Novalis: Philosophical Writings The Novices of Sais



When Geometric Diagrams