Desiderata

DESIDERATA

©1927 by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)

Gehe ruhig und gelassen durch Lärm und Hast und sei des Friedens eingedenk, den die Stille bergen kann. Stehe, soweit ohne Selbstaufgabe möglich, in freundlicher Beziehung zu allen Menschen. Äußere deine Wahrheit ruhig und klar und höre anderen ruhig zu, auch den Geistlosen und Unwissenden; auch sie haben ihre Geschichte.
English

Meide laute und aggressive Menschen, sie sind eine Qual für den Geist. Wenn du dich mit anderen vergleichst, könntest du bitter werden und dir nichtig vorkommen; denn immer wird es jemanden geben, größer oder geringer als du. Freue dich deiner eigenen Leistungen wie auch deiner Pläne. Bleibe weiter an deinem eigenen Weg interessiert, wie bescheiden auch immer. Er ist ein echter Besitz im wechselnden Glück der Zeiten.
English

In deinen geschäftlichen Angelegenheiten lasse Vorsicht walten; denn die Welt ist voller Betrug. Aber nichts soll dich blind machen gegen gleichermaßen vorhandene Rechtschaffenheit. Viele Menschen ringen um hohe Ideale; und überall ist das Leben voll Heldentum.
English

Sei du selbst, vor allen Dingen heuchle keine Zuneigung, noch sei zynisch was die Liebe betrifft; denn auch im Augenblick aller Dürre und Enttäuschung ist sie doch immerwährend wie Gras.
English

Ertrage freundlich gelassen den Ratschluss der Jahre, gib die Dinge der Jugend mit Grazie auf. Stärke die Kraft des Geistes, damit sie dich in plötzlich hereinbrechendem Unglück schütze. Aber erschöpfe dich nicht mit Phantasien. Viele Ängste kommen aus Ermüdung und Einsamkeit.
English

Neben einer heilsamen Selbstdisziplin sei freundlich mit dir selbst. Du bist Kind Gottes genauso wie die Bäume und Sterne; du hast ein Recht hierzu sein. Und, ob es dir bewusst ist oder nicht, es besteht kein Zweifel, das Universum entfaltet sich wie vorgesehen.
English

Darum lebe in Frieden mit Gott, was für eine Vorstellung du auch immer von ihm hast. Was auch immer deine Arbeit und dein Sehnen ist, erhalte dir den Frieden mit deiner Seele in der lärmenden Wirrnis des Lebens. Mit all der Schande, der Plackerei und den zerbrochenen Träumen ist es dennoch eine schöne Welt.
English

Sei behutsam. Strebe danach, glücklich zu sein.
English

Almost every copy of Desiderata carries the claim that the original was found in Old Saint Paul's Church in Baltimore in 1692. It's comforting to believe that some truths are universal, that the beauty of the human spirit is unchanging, ever present, and inviolate. A poem rife with applicability in today's world being found in a church so many centuries ago supports those comforting beliefs. That it's an unsigned piece makes it all the more beautiful: one sees these inspirational words as the anonymous writer's gift to the world. His humility kept him from signing it . . . and maybe there's another lesson for us in that.

As pureheartedly meaningful as its words are, Desiderata's history doesn't quite match up with the fable built around it. The poem wasn't penned by one of our nameless ancestors many centuries ago; it was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann (1872-1945). This selfless writer of many centuries ago was actually a lawyer from Terre Haute, Indiana. Like most of Ehrmann's writings, Desiderata failed to attract much attention during his lifetime; three years after his death, his widow had it and some of his other works published as The Poems of Max Ehrmann.

Confusion over Desiderata's authorship arose in 1956 when a Maryland pastor used the poem in a collection of mimeographed material for the congregation of Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore. He'd been fond of essays and poems of an inspirational nature, and it was often his practice to mimeograph writings he liked, form them into booklets, and place them in pews around the church. The Desiderata booklet was printed on letterhead emblazoned "Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, A.D. 1692" (the year of the church's founding).

Some member of that congregation must have liked the poem well enough to pass along to a friend. From there it passed through many hands, along the way losing the attribution to Max Ehrmann and gaining -- through a muddling of the letterhead's message -- the claim that the work itself had been discovered in Old St. Paul's church in 1692.

The poem then found a foothold in California, where San Francisco's "flower children" embraced it delightedly as a centuries-old affirmation of their philosophy of love and peace. From there it spread as underground printers, thinking they were dealing with a work in the public domain, started cranking out inexpensive posters.

The piece hit a new level of popularity after a copy was found on Adlai Stevenson's bedside table when he died in 1965. He'd been intending to use the "ancient" poem in his Christmas cards.

The spoken version of Desiderata earned a Grammy award for Les Crane in 1971. Like many others, he'd seen the words on a poster and mistakenly thought them to be in the public domain. That error cost him -- he was later forced to share the royalties with the late Ehrmann's family. (Ehrmann's original 1927 copyright was renewed in 1954 by Bertha Ehrmann, and is now held by Robert L. Bell of Sarasota, Florida.) It seems Crane had failed to heed the poem's exhortation to "exercise caution in your business affairs."

Quelle: Urban Legends Reference Pages
© 1995-2003 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson