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
Pietà
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
So, Jesus — now I see your feet once more.
They were such young feet when I stripped them bare
and washed them, way back then, half-filled with fright.
Undressed, they stood there, tangled in my hair —
a thorn-bush-captured creature, wild and white.
No lover's touched your limbs; I see them for
the first time in this love-night. Kept asunder,
we have never lain together or
embraced. Now I can only watch and wonder.
But see your hands, Beloved; see how ripped —
but not by me. Not where my teeth have nipped.
Your heart stands open; all may enter in
where my admittance only should have been.
You are exhausted now, your mouth a wound
Like my hurt mouth yours does not long to kiss.
O Jesus, Jesus, how did we come to this?
How terribly the two of us lie ruined.
Gesang der Frauen an den Dichter
Sieh, wie sich alles auftut: so sind wir;
denn wir sind nichts als solche Seligkeit.
Was Blut und Dunkel war in einem Tier,
das wuchs in uns zur Seele an und schreit
als Seele weiter. Und es schreit nach dir.
Du freilich nimmst es nur in dein Gesicht
als sei es Landschaft: sanft und ohne Gier.
Und darum meinen wir, du bist es nicht,
nach dem es schreit. Und doch, bist du nicht der,
an den wir uns ganz ohne Rest verlören?
Und werden wir in irgend einem mehr?
Mit uns geht das Unendliche vorbei.
Du aber sei, du Mund, daß wir es hören,
du aber, du Uns-Sagender: du sei.
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- Chapter
- Information
- New Poems , pp. 33 - 34Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015