Come back, Scholar

Die Stadt an der Waal, in der ich ein Jahr lang leben und studieren durfte, sah mich später mehrmals wieder: als berufsbegleitend Promovierender.

Kaum etwas hat mich mehr verändert als jener Promotionsweg... 

Dauer: 4:43

On the Waal I go

Past reeds in the pale gray dawn

River hands on the hull

Soft pull, then we’re carried on

Nijmegen in the mist

Still sleeping on the far bank

I watch the water turn

Like a thought that learned to flow

Back to the old stone door

Back to the rooms of proof

Where one small line became

A life of asking more

I come with humble feet

And a notebook full of years

The road was long and patient

Made of questions and of tears

Come back, come back

To the place I began

Come back, come back

With a river in my hands

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

I’m still learning my name

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

Scholar, slowly, I came

Through halls of glass and wood

Where every field can meet

A map with many borders

And ideas crossing streets

History beside the lab

Philosophy and bone

One mind, many doorways

Never walking this alone

I remember the first defense

The air, the light, the room

My heart was shaking softly

Like a candle in the gloom

Now I return again

With a wider kind of sight

Not to finish the journey

Only follow what feels right

The questions keep their shape

As the seasons change and bend

And every path that called me

Led me back here in the end

Come back, come back

To the place I began

Come back, come back

With a river in my hands

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

I’m still learning my name

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

Scholar, slowly, I came

Over the water

Over the years

Over the long road

I carried my fears

Now I stand where I started

Changed, but not apart

With the first light rising

Inside my heart

Come back, come back

To the place I began

Come back, come back

With a river in my hands

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

I’m still learning my name

Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah

Scholar, slowly, I came