Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Neue Gedichte / New Poems
- Early Apollo
- Girl's Lament
- Love Song
- Eranna to Sappho
- Sappho to Eranna
- Sappho to Alcaeus
- Epitaph of a Young Girl
- Oblation
- Eastern Aubade
- Abishag
- David Sings before Saul
- Joshua's Gathering
- The Prodigal Son's Departure
- The Mount of Olives
- Pietà
- The Women's Song to the Poet
- The Death of the Poet
- Buddha
- L'Ange du Méridien
- The Cathedral
- The Portal
- The Rose Window
- The Capital
- God in the Middle Ages
- Morgue
- The Prisoner
- The Panther
- The Gazelle
- The Unicorn
- St. Sebastian
- The Donor
- The Angel
- Roman Sarcophagi
- The Swan
- Childhood
- The Poet
- The Lace
- A Woman's Fate
- The Convalescent
- The Grown-Up
- Tanagra
- The Woman Going Blind
- In a Strange Park
- Parting
- Death Experience
- Blue Hydrangea
- Before the Summer Rain
- In the Drawing Room
- Final Evening
- Youthful Portrait of My Father
- Self-Portrait from the Year 1906
- The King
- Resurrection
- The Standard-Bearer
- The Last Count of Brederode Evades Turkish Captivity
- The Courtesan
- The Stairs of the Orangerie
- The Marble Cart
- Buddha
- Roman Fountain
- The Carousel
- Spanish Dancer
- The Tower
- The Square
- Quai du Rosaire
- Béguinage
- The Procession of the Virgin Mary
- The Island
- Tombs of the Hetaerae
- Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes
- Alcestis
- Birth of Venus
- The Bowl of Roses
- Part II Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil / The New Poems: The Other Part
- Index of Titles and First Lines in German
- Index of Titles and First Lines in English
Eastern Aubade
from Part I - Neue Gedichte / New Poems
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Neue Gedichte / New Poems
- Early Apollo
- Girl's Lament
- Love Song
- Eranna to Sappho
- Sappho to Eranna
- Sappho to Alcaeus
- Epitaph of a Young Girl
- Oblation
- Eastern Aubade
- Abishag
- David Sings before Saul
- Joshua's Gathering
- The Prodigal Son's Departure
- The Mount of Olives
- Pietà
- The Women's Song to the Poet
- The Death of the Poet
- Buddha
- L'Ange du Méridien
- The Cathedral
- The Portal
- The Rose Window
- The Capital
- God in the Middle Ages
- Morgue
- The Prisoner
- The Panther
- The Gazelle
- The Unicorn
- St. Sebastian
- The Donor
- The Angel
- Roman Sarcophagi
- The Swan
- Childhood
- The Poet
- The Lace
- A Woman's Fate
- The Convalescent
- The Grown-Up
- Tanagra
- The Woman Going Blind
- In a Strange Park
- Parting
- Death Experience
- Blue Hydrangea
- Before the Summer Rain
- In the Drawing Room
- Final Evening
- Youthful Portrait of My Father
- Self-Portrait from the Year 1906
- The King
- Resurrection
- The Standard-Bearer
- The Last Count of Brederode Evades Turkish Captivity
- The Courtesan
- The Stairs of the Orangerie
- The Marble Cart
- Buddha
- Roman Fountain
- The Carousel
- Spanish Dancer
- The Tower
- The Square
- Quai du Rosaire
- Béguinage
- The Procession of the Virgin Mary
- The Island
- Tombs of the Hetaerae
- Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes
- Alcestis
- Birth of Venus
- The Bowl of Roses
- Part II Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil / The New Poems: The Other Part
- Index of Titles and First Lines in German
- Index of Titles and First Lines in English
Summary
Isn't this bed just like some coast — a strip
of shore on which the two of us now lie?
They dizzy me, as nothing's sure except
your breasts; they daze my feelings from on high.
As for this night in which so much cried out —
when creatures shrieked and ripped themselves in two:
isn't it strange and awful to us? But
what slowly dawns out there — it's called day — do
we know it any better, past all doubt?
Like petals round the stamen of a flower,
we should lie entwined so close we're one,
while everywhere, the massing that's begun
to loom comes plunging toward us at this hour.
But while we press together, lest we see
how all around it shuts us in its jail,
it may unsheathe itself from you, from me,
because our souls exist by such betrayal.
Abisag
I
Sie lag. Und ihre Kinderarme waren
von Dienern um den Welkenden gebunden,
auf dem sie lag die süßen langen Stunden,
ein wenig bang vor seinen vielen Jahren.
Und manchmal wandte sie in seinem Barte
ihr Angesicht, wenn eine Eule schrie;
und alles, was die Nacht war, kam und scharte
mit Bangen und Verlangen sich um sie.
Die Sterne zitterten wie ihresgleichen,
ein Duft ging suchend durch das Schlafgemach,
der Vorhang rührte sich und gab ein Zeichen,
und leise ging ihr Blick dem Zeichen nach —.
Aber sie hielt sich an dem dunkeln Alten
und, von der Nacht der Nachte nicht erreicht,
lag sie auf seinem fürstlichen Erkalten
jungfräulich und wie eine Seele leicht.
II
Der König saß und sann den leeren Tag
getaner Taten, ungefühlter Lüste
und seiner Lieblingshündin, der er pflag —.
Aber am Abend wölbte Abisag
sich über ihm. Sein wirres Leben lag
verlassen wie verrufne Meeresküste
unter dem Sternbild ihrer stillen Brüste.
Und manchmal, als ein Kundiger der Frauen,
erkannte er durch seine Augenbrauen
den unbewegten, küsselosen Mund;
und sah ihres Gefühles grüne Rute
neigte sich nicht herab zu seinem Grund.
Ihn fröstelte. Er horchte wie ein Hund
und suchte sich in seinem letzten Blute.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- New Poems , pp. 19 - 20Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015