From now on and forever
I know Earth is truly warm.
I give fire back to the nettle,
to the hedgehog his thorn.
From now on the whole world
is my protector, a pasture
where breezes cradle and lull us,
weaving our breath’s texture.
After Christine Lavant
Seit heute, aber für immer,
weiß ich: Die Erde ist wirklich warm-;
ich gebe der Nessel den Brand zurück
und dem Igel die Stacheln.
Seit heute ist alles mein Schutzpatron
und die ganze Welt eine Weidenwiege,
darin uns der Windstoß zusammenschaukelt
und unsren Atem verknotet.
***
Christine Lavant was an Austrian poet whose life traversed a vale of tears and woe. Fortunately, for us, she discovered poetry after a mentor passed her a volume of Rilke. Christian mystics are few and far between, alas, the scourge of literalism having subverted that belief. In her poetry, it appears she was one. A lamb of the Lord. On translation.