Hermann Hesse

The Drifting Leaf

The Drifting Leaf - meaning Summary

Ephemeral Journey of Life

The poem uses the image of a wilted leaf driven by wind to reflect on human transience. Youth, love, and movement are depicted as brief and directionless, like leaves carried without control. The speaker observes cycles of ascent and descent, arrival in decay, and expresses an open-ended anxiety about the final destination. The closing question underscores uncertainty about mortality and where life’s wandering ultimately ends.

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Headmost in wind's shoving waves a wilted leaf. Roaming, youth, and loving stops: their time is brief. Trackless leaves ascend, descend wherever winds will stray, only to stop in the woods, in decay. Where will my journey end?

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