In the Spring

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…

Over the white pondthe savage birds draw away.At twilight an icier wind blows about our star.The split forehead of night bendsacross our graves.Under oaks we shudder on a silver barge.Forever ring the whitewashed walls of the city.Under a dome of thornsO my brother we climb—blind hour hands to midnight.Translated by Eric Plattner & Joseph Suglia……………………………………………………………………U…

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…

At the greening spring hill; where beforeA gentle lamb bled, endured the deepestPain; but the dark one follows the shadowOf evil, or he lifts the moist wingsTo the golden disk of the sun and a sound of bellsConvulses his pain-torn breast,Wild hope; the sinisterness of flaming fall.

Songs which bleed like wounds.However, no heart carries them to me againThrough the darkness.Only the nocturnal dark floodsRush, sob my songs,Songs which bleed from wounds,They carry them to my heart againThrough the darkness.

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…