(no subject)
I've been reading Georg Trakl lately. He's a fun poet--very abrupt in some ways. He wastes no words. He has a talent for portraying emotional conditions as a series of unrelated actions, usually in a setting. He can introduce completely foreign images though, making everything bizarre and gorgeous. Here's one of his poems.
Nearness of Death (second version)
O the evening, the one gone into the dark villages of childhood.
Under the willows the pond
Fills itself with poisoned sighs of grief.
O the forest, softly lowering its brown eyes
From the slim lovely hand of the abandoned.
The purple of better days begins fading away.
O the nearness of death. Let us pray.
In this night, the delicate limbs of lovers,
Yellowed by incense, dissolve on warm pillows.
Everything in this poem works towards the last two lines, which create a sense of urgency as well as loss. We must pray because there is nothing left bu "poisoned sighs of grief" as the forest leaves us abandoned to see our impending death and the lives we have lost. Even human intimacy is dissolving, leaving only its heat to remind us. Still, we are calm. "O the nearness of death. Let us pray." This is a call to prayer, a calm and barren one. One cannot help but see it all, but one is not afraid, only sad.
More on Trakl later.
Nearness of Death (second version)
O the evening, the one gone into the dark villages of childhood.
Under the willows the pond
Fills itself with poisoned sighs of grief.
O the forest, softly lowering its brown eyes
From the slim lovely hand of the abandoned.
The purple of better days begins fading away.
O the nearness of death. Let us pray.
In this night, the delicate limbs of lovers,
Yellowed by incense, dissolve on warm pillows.
Everything in this poem works towards the last two lines, which create a sense of urgency as well as loss. We must pray because there is nothing left bu "poisoned sighs of grief" as the forest leaves us abandoned to see our impending death and the lives we have lost. Even human intimacy is dissolving, leaving only its heat to remind us. Still, we are calm. "O the nearness of death. Let us pray." This is a call to prayer, a calm and barren one. One cannot help but see it all, but one is not afraid, only sad.
More on Trakl later.