Welcome
William Hermanns (1895-1990) was one of the best
personally informed authorities of the events in Germany from World War I
through the Hitler era who recorded and expressed his experiences
primarily as a poet, but also as a writer of books plays and a couple of
songs, which we will feature on this site.
Dr. Hermanns was an
academician, as well, having earned his doctorate in Sociology, and
was prepared for a diplomatic career with the League of Nations, but
that international attempt at peace had an early ending with
Mussolini's march into Abysinia (Ethopia). He would later
in the United States become a Professor in German Language and
Literature at San Jose State College (now University).
His gift to the world was as a Poet Sociologist
shining light on conscience, that he learned to respect on his
journey from the imaginary hero self as a volunteer
soldier marching at the side of his
Kaiser victoriously through the
Arc de Triomphe to his discovery of conscience
and its guiding power in the trenches of war.
His vow, screamed from the battlefield of Verdun upon
being half-buried by an exploding shell,
"God, save me and I will serve You
as long as I live!" remained present to him everyday of the rest of his
life.
This website is dedicated to bringing his lifelong
literary works to public view. Be prepared for a journey of a
lifetime. He wrote in his native German language
and in his adopted country's language of English. He considered
himself first a poet, a mystic, and then a sociologist. He was a
student of Einstein, not in physics but in cosmic religious feeling and
conscience.
Please peruse his works, contemplate with his
poetry, and be encouraged to be what Einstein called a
Cosmic Person (well,
actually "Man", but in his generational bubble he meant male and female human).
Your comments and support are welcome.
Format Note: The webpages are formatted
to display writings of William Hermanns with a
darker tint background, and those of
others with the common background color.
The Invisible Me
I was dust and will be dust,
part of the silent desert, the eternal hills.
Glorious cycle of the visible me:
My voice joins silence — a holy must.
Yet my thoughts, left behind,
will live on,— evil or kind,
as my invisible me:
No energy is lost.
With human thoughts that ever breathed,
my thoughts will dwell
in creation's memory,
form heaven or hell.
William Hermanns
[P193]
Die Seele
Die Seele leuchtet meinem Schweigen
bewahrt mein Wort vor Unrecht tun,
bald kehrt sie heim, wird lichtwärts steigen
und ich darf ruh'n.
Nie wiederrstrahlt sie zu mir her,
bleibt still im unsichtbaren Hafen,
hält mit mir keine Zwiesprach mehr,
ich werde schlafen.
Ich hab der Seele aufgeprägt,
das was ich fühlte und gedacht.
Mein Wesen, das sie weiter trägt,
kennt keine Nacht.
William Hermanns [G112]
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