During the last three years of his life Frithjof Schuon wrote approximately 3,500 short poems in his mother tongue German. These poems, which have been called “metaphysical music,” cover every possible aspect of spiritual doctrine, practice and virtue, as well as the role and function of beauty. They express every conceivable subtlety of spiritual and moral counsel – and this is not merely in general terms, but with uncanny intimacy, detail and precision. They express the same unerring sharpness of intellect, profundity, comprehensiveness and compassion which one finds in the range of Schuon’s better-known dialectical writings.

This book contains two collections, Autumn Leaves and The Ring, and is offered here for the first time in a bilingual English-German edition. The various sections include: Beauty, Human Questions, Doctrine, Recollections, Images, and the Soul. In these poetic teachings Schuon speaks directly to the reader, expressing every conceivable subtlety of spiritual and moral counsel. They comfort and inspire the reader to cultivate inner beauty and seek a deeper consciousness of the presence of God.