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 Leprous King
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
There on his brow, the leprosy shone clear;
it stood out all the more below the crown,
which made him king of every hideous fear.
Fear shook the others, drilling in and down,
and they recoiled at this dread happening,
in which he stood there like a prisoner bound
and waiting for the blow that time would bring —
though no brave man would do the thing,
as if his power were something none could wound,
eternal in devolving on that king.
Legende von den drei Lebendigen und den drei Toten
Drei Herren hatten mit Falken gebeizt
und freuten sich auf das Gelag.
Da nahm sie der Greis in Beschlag
und führte. Die Reiter hielten gespreizt
vor dem dreifachen Sarkophag,
der ihnen dreimal entgegenstank,
in den Mund, in die Nase, ins Sehn:
und sie wußten es gleich: da lagen lang
drei Tote mitten im Untergang
und ließen sich gräßlich gehn.
Und sie hatten nur noch ihr Jägergehör
reinlich hinter dem Sturmbandlör;
doch da zischte der Alte sein:
— Sie gingen nicht durch das Nadelöhr
und gehen niemals — hinein.
Nun blieb ihnen noch ihr klares Getast,
das stark war vom Jagen und heiß;
doch das hatte ein Frost von hinten gefaßt
und trieb ihm Eis in den Schweiß.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- New Poems , pp. 207 - 208Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2015