One of my favorite movies of all time is Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, perhaps the best film by the German filmmaker. It tells the story of two angels that come to Berlin to observe (but not interact) with the inhabitants, and the events that befall them and their charges. This poem by Peter Handke (Song of Childhood) is recited in German by one of the angels (Bruno Ganz) and served as the inspiration for this series of eight images created over the last six months.
"When the child was a child
It walked with its arms dangling,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.
When the child was a child,
it didn’t know that it was a child,
everything was soulful,
and all souls were one.
When the child was a child,
it had no opinion about anything,
had no habits,
it often sat cross-legged,
took off running,
had a cowlick in its hair,
and made no faces when photographed.
When the child was a child,
It was the time for these questions:
Why am I me, and why not you?
Why am I here, and why not there?
When did time begin, and where does space end?
Is life under the sun not just a dream?
Is what I see and hear and smell
not just an illusion of a world before the world?
Is there truly evil,
and people who are evil?
How can it be that the I, who I am,
didn’t exist before I came to be,
and that, someday, the I who I am,
will no longer be who I am?
When the child was a child,
It choked on spinach, on peas, on rice pudding,
and on steamed cauliflower,
and eats all of those now, and not just because it has to.
When the child was a child,
it awoke once in a strange bed,
and now does so again and again.
Many people, then, seemed beautiful,
and now only a few do, by sheer luck.
It had clearly imagined Paradise,
and now can at most guess,
could not conceive of nothingness,
and shudders today at the thought.
When the child was a child,
It played with enthusiasm,
and, now, has just as much excitement as then,
but only when it concerns its work.
When the child was a child,
It was enough for it to eat an apple, bread,
And so it is even now.
When the child was a child,
Berries filled its hand as only berries do,
and do even now,
Fresh walnuts made its tongue raw,
and do even now,
it had, on every mountaintop,
the longing for a higher mountain yet,
and in every city,
the longing for an even greater city,
and that is still so,
It reached for cherries in topmost branches of trees
with an elation it still has today,
has a shyness in front of strangers,
and has that even now.
It awaited the first snow,
And waits that way even now.
When the child was a child,
It threw a stick like a lance against a tree,
And it quivers there still today."
The Song of Childhood / Lied Vom Kindsein
By Peter Handke
from the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire"
(recited by Bruno Ganz)
Song of Childhood I / Lied Vom Kindsein I
Song of Childhood II / Lied Vom Kindsein II
Song of Childhood III / Lied Vom Kindsein III
Song of Childhood IV / Lied Vom Kindsein IV
Song of Childhood V / Lied Vom Kindsein V
Song of Childhood VI / Lied Vom Kindsein VI
Song of Childhood VII / Lied Vom Kindsein VII
Song of Childhood VIII / Lied Vom Kindsein VIII
"When the child was a child
It walked with its arms dangling,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.
When the child was a child,
it didn’t know that it was a child,
everything was soulful,
and all souls were one.
When the child was a child,
it had no opinion about anything,
had no habits,
it often sat cross-legged,
took off running,
had a cowlick in its hair,
and made no faces when photographed.
When the child was a child,
It was the time for these questions:
Why am I me, and why not you?
Why am I here, and why not there?
When did time begin, and where does space end?
Is life under the sun not just a dream?
Is what I see and hear and smell
not just an illusion of a world before the world?
Is there truly evil,
and people who are evil?
How can it be that the I, who I am,
didn’t exist before I came to be,
and that, someday, the I who I am,
will no longer be who I am?
When the child was a child,
It choked on spinach, on peas, on rice pudding,
and on steamed cauliflower,
and eats all of those now, and not just because it has to.
When the child was a child,
it awoke once in a strange bed,
and now does so again and again.
Many people, then, seemed beautiful,
and now only a few do, by sheer luck.
It had clearly imagined Paradise,
and now can at most guess,
could not conceive of nothingness,
and shudders today at the thought.
When the child was a child,
It played with enthusiasm,
and, now, has just as much excitement as then,
but only when it concerns its work.
When the child was a child,
It was enough for it to eat an apple, bread,
And so it is even now.
When the child was a child,
Berries filled its hand as only berries do,
and do even now,
Fresh walnuts made its tongue raw,
and do even now,
it had, on every mountaintop,
the longing for a higher mountain yet,
and in every city,
the longing for an even greater city,
and that is still so,
It reached for cherries in topmost branches of trees
with an elation it still has today,
has a shyness in front of strangers,
and has that even now.
It awaited the first snow,
And waits that way even now.
When the child was a child,
It threw a stick like a lance against a tree,
And it quivers there still today."
The Song of Childhood / Lied Vom Kindsein
By Peter Handke
from the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire"
(recited by Bruno Ganz)
Song of Childhood I / Lied Vom Kindsein I
Song of Childhood II / Lied Vom Kindsein II
Song of Childhood III / Lied Vom Kindsein III
Song of Childhood IV / Lied Vom Kindsein IV
Song of Childhood V / Lied Vom Kindsein V
Song of Childhood VI / Lied Vom Kindsein VI
Song of Childhood VII / Lied Vom Kindsein VII
Song of Childhood VIII / Lied Vom Kindsein VIII
Beautiful...