happy new year

the solace of flowers

and then the colours came, and with them my endless fascination with vases - my vases full of flowers, again and again... i read in Kafka's letters to Felice that he "has no feelings for flowers", never had, flowers leave him cold, unless they come from her, and even then... 

some pages later, i read: "with the effort needed in order to keep myself alive and to not lose my mind, i could have built the pyramids". 

if only he had known the solace of flowers, it nearly burst out of me, if only ---

like a drifting cloud

If someone asks
My abode
I reply:
“The east edge of
The Milky Way.”

Like a drifting cloud,
Bound by nothing:
I just let go
Giving myself up
To the whim of the wind

Ryokan

Wenn jemand
nach meinem Wohnsitz fragt,
Antworte ich:
„Am östlichen Rand
Der Milchstraße“.

Gleich einer ziehenden Wolke,
Durch nichts gebunden:
Ich lasse einfach los,
Gebe mich
In die Launen des Windes.

(für Renée)



.
.

snow and shelter

Wenn der Schnee ans Fenster fällt,
Lang die Abendglocke läutet,
Vielen ist der Tisch bereitet
Und das Haus ist wohlbestellt.

Mancher auf der Wanderschaft
Kommt ans Tor auf dunklen Pfaden.
Golden blüht der Baum der Gnaden
Aus der Erde kühlem Saft.

Wanderer tritt still herein;
Schmerz versteinerte die Schwelle.
Da erglänzt in reiner Helle
Auf dem Tische Brot und Wein.


Georg Trakl
(Ein Winterabend)

When the snow falls against the window,

The evening bell rings long,

The table is prepared for many,

And the house is well cultivated.

Some in their wanderings

Come to the gate on dark paths.

The tree of grace blooms golden

From the earth's cool sap.

Wanderer, step silently inside;

Pain has petrified the threshold.

There in pure radiance

Bread and wine glow on the table.

(Winter Evening,

tr. by Jim Doss and Werner Schmitt)

Quand la neige tombe aux fenêtres,
Que longtemps sonne l'angélus,
La table est mise pour beaucoup
Et rien ne manque à la maison.

Tel qui s’en va pérégrinant,
D’obscurs sentiers le mènent là.
Son or en fleurs, l'arbre des grâces
Le prend au suc froid de la terre.


Le pérégrin tout doux pénètre ;
Ce seuil, des maux l'ont fait de pierre.
De clarté pure alors s'allument
Sur la table le pain, le vin.


Georg Trakl
(Un soir d'hiver, tr. Robert Rovini)

last attempt - very ironic title, taking into consideration my obsession with the 'last song, last meeting' :-)

i have to apologize deeply to all of you who got worried about the Bridge gone floating. i am so sorry i scared you, but nothing seemed to work as i wanted to and i just had to close it to be able to test different solutions. i am afraid i am a bit obsessed with detail (perfectionism is a curse!), i just can't be satisfied with 'oh, just leave like this, what does it matter anyway' (you will understand better if i tell you that one of my métiers of choice would have been that of decorating illuminated manuscripts).
i think i have found a solution which allows me to keep my old template as well, i just couldn't adjust to the new ones i had been trying in the meantime (oh les anciennes amours!).

language related pondering as interlude (oh les anciennes habitudes! :-): what can be more frivolous and at the same time more thought-provoking, than this habit of the French to switch between masculine and feminine gender when they talk about 'amour'!

i would like to thank all of you who are here for me and also those who have overwhelmed me with letters about the Bridge (reaching from friendly encouragements, polite demands of being included on an eventual list of 'invited readers' to sweet-sulking inquiries and even infuriated menaces :-). i can't tell you how deeply i am moved. please be assured, if i ever let the Bridge sink, i will let you know first and find a way to say good-bye, even if i am very bad at doing that.

and since i find no better way of expressing my gratitude: for all my readers (and especially for Atenea who, despite having an important paper to finish, spent her entire day with me trying to figure out a way out of this mess), my humble gift of friendship - a tulip's dream of frailty and veiled light.