Figure which has long dwelt in the coolness of sinister stone

Of death, as when the goldDied in the grey cloud.An evening in November.A crowd of needy women stood at the bare gateOf the slaughterhouse;Rotten meat and guts fellInto every basket;Horrible food.The blue dove of the eveningBrought no forgiveness.The dark cry of trumpetsTr a v e l l e d i n t h e golden…

the cuckoos withhold their misery.The cornstalks slant deeper into themselves,the red poppies.The blackening sky cracks openover the hills.The ancient song of the cricketdies in the harbor.It never stirs,the crown of the chestnut.Up the winding stairsyour dress rustles.The candle’s glowing silencedarkens the room.Your silver handquenches it.Tonight, no wind, no stars.Translated by Eric Plattner…………………………………………………………………SommerAm Abend schweigt die…

Some swap the forehead and the hands rot in the brown foliage.In bony stillness the heart of the lonely one shines,A small boat rocks on blackish waters.Through dark woods hair and laughter of brown maids flutters.The shadows of the old people cross the flight of a small bird;Mystery of blue flowers on their temples.Others sway…

Before me in quaint dressThree angels stood in the sunshine.O ominous spring year!In the acre the last snow melted,And the birch’s hair hung quiveringIn the cold, clear lake.From the sky a blue ribbon blew,And beautifully a cloud flowed within,Facing it, I lay dreaming –The angels kneeled in sunshine.Loudly a bird sang marvelous stories,And at once…

Drifts away and quiet waft of wordsFrom people, passersby.I stand before a green stage!Begin, begin again, you playOf lost days, without crime and punishment,Ghostly only, strange and cool!To the melody of the early daysI see myself going up there again,A child whose quiet, forgotten lamentI see weeping, strange to my understanding.You wondering face turned to…

And on the fields the dogs howled loud,And in the treetops the foehn rummaged wildly.But suddenly: stillness! Stuffy fever glowLets poisonous flowers bloom from my mouth,From the branches like from a woundPale gleaming dew falls, and falls, and falls like blood.From a mirror’s deceitful emptinessA countenance slowly lifts in the vaguenessOut of horror and darkness:…