One poem – two endings
All life is by definition
A bittersweet edition
It is alive
And will be dad
Sigh' Lance, bro Ken, bye "singing"
There's magic in every beginning
And what sounds dumb
When you're out, Don Trump
Everything will end
As much as the heart spent
Jan H. Hellberg (18.09.2025)
This poem shall be my ode to ambiguity of the spoken word. One reason I love live performances for, to watch them but also my own performances. Check out below if you’re impatient and thought this poem felt weird.
And the other inspiration for this poem came from exactly that, one of the poems I know by heart and recited many times over the years. From that poem the German speaking community knows a quote and some even a whole line. I’m speaking about the famous poem „Stufen“ by Hermann Hesse (The title is German for steps). The quote goes like this:
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne
I translated the line to the following and used this line in my poem.
There’s magic in every beginning
And while this quote is often used not everyone knows the whole poem and with that its context of growing further step by step throughout life and that it’s a series of farewells and new beginnings.
You can read the whole poem and a nice translation of Hesse’s Stufen here.
Here is now the solution of the riddle of this poem if you like, although, there is no right or wrong, just two poems with same sound, two meanings and two endings.
All life is by definition
A bitter sweet edition
It is a life
And will be dead
Silence broken by singing
There's magic in every beginning
And what sounds dumb
When you're outdone trump
Every thing will end
As much as the hearts bend
This was written for this week’s W3, Lisa encourages us to write about endings, beginnings, or both in a Quadrille. A quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words going back to the dVerse Poets Pub.
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zipferlake 
Magic in every beginning! Wonderful
Thanks. Yes, it’s a genius line, right?
🙂
I like it. lots. xo
Thanks, Selma!
I fear regaining anything that even resembles a life as compared to an existence, will take far longer than the lifespan of just one man. As I grow closer to entering the winter of my life- I remain hopeful that even though I doubt I will ever see it- we will eventually remember what really matters.
Thanks for this quite philosophical comment, Violet!
I also like the saying „hope springs eternal in the human beast“ which also comes from a poem by the way. Your conclusion made me remember that saying.
Jan, I really like the playfulness here. “There’s magic in every beginning” makes me think how every ending quietly points us toward what’s next.
~David
Thanks, David, exactly what I love to do having this quote in mind, in particular when I have a hard time due to sth. coming to an end.
🤗
I loved your poems, especially the line „there’s magic in every beginning“! Brillant!
Thank you!
The Hesse is very nice indeed. 👍
Thank you!