A Lamb of the Lord

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 was a vale of tears, wails. Fortunately, for us, she discovered poetry, after a mentor passed her a volume of Rilke. Christian mystics are these days few and far between, alas. In her poetry, it appears, she was one.