Miscellany:Farewell to Gastein

Farewell to Gastein is a poem known in German as Abschied von Gastein. Ludwig von Mises writes in Human Action, "Neither does the genius derive immediate gratification from his creative activities. Creating is for him agony and torment, a ceaseless excruciating struggle against internal and external obstacles; it consumes and crushes him. The Austrian poet Grillparzer has depicted this in a touching poem 'Farewell to Gastein.'"