Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Neue Gedichte / New Poems
- Part II Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil / The New Poems: The Other Part
- Archaic Torso of Apollo
- Cretan Artemis
- Leda
- Dolphins
- The Island of the Sirens
- Lament for Antinoüs
- The Death of the Beloved
- Lament for Jonathan
- The Consoling of Elijah
- Saul amongst the Prophets
- Samuel Appears before Saul
- A Prophet
- Jeremiah
- A Sibyl
- Absalom's Defection
- Esther
- The Leprous King
- The Legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead Men
- The King of Münster
- Death-Dance / Danse Macabre
- The Last Judgment
- The Temptation
- The Alchemist
- The Reliquary
- Gold
- The Stylite
- The Egyptian Mary
- Crucifixion
- The Resurrected One
- Magnificat
- Adam
- Eve
- Madmen in the Garden
- The Lunatics
- From the Life of a Saints
- The Beggars
- Foreign Family
- Corpse-Washing
- One of the Old Ones
- The Blind Man
- A Faded One
- Communions
- The Site of the Fire
- The Group
- Snake-Charming
- Black Cat
- Before Easter
- The Balcony
- Emigrant Ship
- Landscape
- Roman Campagna
- Song of the Sea
- Night Drive
- Parrot Park
- The Parks
- Portrait
- Venetian Morning
- Late Autumn in Venice
- San Marco
- A Doge
- The Lute
- The Adventurer
- Falconry
- Corrida
- Don Juan's Childhood
- Don Juan's Election
- St. George
- Lady on a Balcony
- Encounter in the Chestnut Allée
- The Sisters
- Piano Practice
- Woman in Love
- The Rose Interior
- A Portrait of a Lady of the Eighteen-Eighties
- Lady before the Mirror
- The Old Woman
- The Bed
- The Stranger
- The Arrival
- Sundial
- Opium Poppy
- The Flamingos
- Persian Heliotrope
- Lullaby
- The Pavilion
- The Abduction
- Pink Hydrangea
- The Coat of Arms
- The Bachelor
- The Solitary
- The Reader
- The Apple Orchard
- Mohammed's Summoning
- The Mountain
- The Ball
- The Child
- The Dog
- The Scarab
- Buddha in Glory
- Index of Titles and First Lines in German
- Index of Titles and First Lines in English
The Old Woman
from Part II - Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil / The New Poems: The Other Part
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Translator's Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Neue Gedichte / New Poems
- Part II Der neuen Gedichte anderer Teil / The New Poems: The Other Part
- Archaic Torso of Apollo
- Cretan Artemis
- Leda
- Dolphins
- The Island of the Sirens
- Lament for Antinoüs
- The Death of the Beloved
- Lament for Jonathan
- The Consoling of Elijah
- Saul amongst the Prophets
- Samuel Appears before Saul
- A Prophet
- Jeremiah
- A Sibyl
- Absalom's Defection
- Esther
- The Leprous King
- The Legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead Men
- The King of Münster
- Death-Dance / Danse Macabre
- The Last Judgment
- The Temptation
- The Alchemist
- The Reliquary
- Gold
- The Stylite
- The Egyptian Mary
- Crucifixion
- The Resurrected One
- Magnificat
- Adam
- Eve
- Madmen in the Garden
- The Lunatics
- From the Life of a Saints
- The Beggars
- Foreign Family
- Corpse-Washing
- One of the Old Ones
- The Blind Man
- A Faded One
- Communions
- The Site of the Fire
- The Group
- Snake-Charming
- Black Cat
- Before Easter
- The Balcony
- Emigrant Ship
- Landscape
- Roman Campagna
- Song of the Sea
- Night Drive
- Parrot Park
- The Parks
- Portrait
- Venetian Morning
- Late Autumn in Venice
- San Marco
- A Doge
- The Lute
- The Adventurer
- Falconry
- Corrida
- Don Juan's Childhood
- Don Juan's Election
- St. George
- Lady on a Balcony
- Encounter in the Chestnut Allée
- The Sisters
- Piano Practice
- Woman in Love
- The Rose Interior
- A Portrait of a Lady of the Eighteen-Eighties
- Lady before the Mirror
- The Old Woman
- The Bed
- The Stranger
- The Arrival
- Sundial
- Opium Poppy
- The Flamingos
- Persian Heliotrope
- Lullaby
- The Pavilion
- The Abduction
- Pink Hydrangea
- The Coat of Arms
- The Bachelor
- The Solitary
- The Reader
- The Apple Orchard
- Mohammed's Summoning
- The Mountain
- The Ball
- The Child
- The Dog
- The Scarab
- Buddha in Glory
- Index of Titles and First Lines in German
- Index of Titles and First Lines in English
Summary
The white-frocked friends who've gathered at mid-day
are laughing, listening, planning their tomorrows.
Some placid folk stand only steps away,
slowly considering their special sorrows —
the whys and whens and hows of them — and you
can catch them as they voice their I believes —;
but in her lace cap, she perceives
with certainty, as if she knew,
that they're in error, one and all.
And then her brow begins to fall;
her chin ends resting on her shawl
(some bone-white coral clasps the hem).
But once, though, when she hears a laughing phrase,
her two eyes spring wide open in a gaze
that shows the brilliance of a cold, hard blaze —
the way a lock-sprung secret drawer displays
a beautiful old heirloom gem.
Das Bett
Laß sie meinen, daß sich in privater
Wehmut löst, was einer dort bestritt.
Nirgend sonst als da ist ein Theater;
reiß den hohen Vorhang fort —: da tritt
vor den Chor der Nächte, der begann
ein unendlich breites Lied zu sagen,
jene Stunde auf, bei der sie lagen,
und zerreißt ihr Kleid und klagt sich an,
um der andern, um der Stunde willen,
die sich wehrt und wälzt im Hintergrunde;
denn sie konnte sie mit sich nicht stillen.
Aber da sie zu der fremden Stunde
sich gebeugt: da war auf ihr,
was sie am Geliebten einst gefunden,
nur so drohend und so groß verbunden
und entzogen wie in einem Tier.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- New Poems , pp. 333 - 334Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015