In this volume, Siegfried Unseld presents his favorite poems by Hermann Hesse, specifically those verses that he states in the afterword have accompanied him throughout his life. Alongside the most beautiful nature poems and Hesse's timeless philosophical lyrics (happiness, books, language, reflection, stages), his selection also includes poems about the genre most closely related to poetry: music (organ playing, flute playing). Hesse's poems fulfill what he said about the impulse to write them: "All poetry is a mirror of the world in the isolated self, a response of the self to the world, a lament, reflection, and play of a fully conscious solitude." Reproductions of manuscripts and color-reproduced watercolors by the poet make this volume a bibliophilic treasure. "Anyone who has to make such a selection would prefer different poems, but at the same time knows.".