Poems

…Most lovely your postcard: Boats in a harbor of Portugal. How lovely another card: An old castle in Scotland. And then that one with the hairy cows: A lovely picture form the Isle of Skye. And that blue one? And […]

I know why Lellig has Dug in so close to the water: Too constrained by her Mama Against a treacherous world! You must not my Lellig Play too close to the water, For the stream, little one, Is deep and […]

—There are four fine souls I know Oh! Four distinguished children! Who run around high and low Throughout the year’s four seasons. They jump in ditches They fill up their shoes They clamber to treetops Oh! Nothing’s to be done […]

Not long ago behind the town square There was a lovely beech tree Whose bark bore deeply engraved Letters and numbers For all the men of the village Had a long-standing tradition To mark their names in the tree Before […]

—Sun, why are you so late getting up? And why is your eye so red? Did you have a nightmare And weep in your sleep? —I’ve neither slept nor dreamt. During the night I’ve kept watch, While the West slept […]

…The earth trembles, trembles Trembles with cold? Trembles with rage? Or with fear? Or with hunger? The earth trembles, trembles Like a drunkard? Or someone drugged? The earth trembles with terror With terror at Man At the science of Man […]

Ah yes! Be proud Superman of the atomic age Be proud! You’re the victor… You’re the master. For shame! Such work… You’ve imprisoned Fire And tamed Electricity! Imprisoned Water! Imprisoned speech and music In the cage of the Radio. Imprisoned […]

Peaceful solitude. Wise friend; With your thousand counsels. Your thousand secrets. An endless tranquility. Messenger from the Sky Thank you! Divine companion… You, brimming over with winged life, With trees, with flowers, with flowing water In which every life is […]

You probably thought you’d been abandoned, Like something rejected, That no longer pleases… You stayed in your dark corner. The spider, out of pity, Had woven a bed for you, For resting, And for dreaming. With joy I found you […]

At the beginning, from the earth, The best cider comes out. Cream rises to the surface On a bucketful of milk. Our nicest fantasies, From the cellar of our memory, Most often pass, Through the first doorway. 1962. Translated by […]