This is one of my favorite pictures that I took while I was living in Tübingen. It is the Hölderlinturm (tower of Hölderlin). The - supposedly mad - poet Friedrich Hölderlin spent 36 years of his life with the Zimmer family who gave him a room in this tower, until his death in June 1843, at the age of 73.
His poems have inspired many composers (among others Johannes Brahms) and also modern bands in Germany, Sweden and Finland. The language of his poems is not the easiest but it is extraordinary beautiful. Translating it into another language must be extremely difficult as it is with all poetry.
I found an English translation by David Constantine of Hölderlin's poem "Wohl geh ich täglich..." - the title of the translation is completely different.
'Another day'
Another day. I follow another path,
Enter the leafing woodland, visit the spring
Or the rocks where the roses bloom
Or search from a look-out, but nowhere
Love are you to be seen in the light of day
And down the wind go the words of our once so
Beneficent conversation...
Your beloved face has gone beyond my sight,
The music of your life is dying away
Beyond my hearing and all the songs
That worked a miracle of peace once on
My heart, where are they now? It was long ago,
So long and the youth I was has aged nor is
Even the earth that smiled at me then
The same. Farewell. Live with that word always.
For the soul goes from me to return to you
Day after day and my eyes shed tears that they
Cannot look over to where you are
And see you clearly ever again.
If you're interested in the German original, you can find it here.
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