Herman Hesse

Today we wish a happy heavenly birthday to Herman Hesse, who was a German poet, novelist, and painter. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946.
Hesse had a special appreciation for trees, and I thought I'd share some of his thoughtful and reverent prose with you today:

"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth."
"A tree says:
A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail."