Wulf Kirsten
Unforgettable Moment
Summer raises its green roof
over the track through the fields,
all the way to the stony vineyards.
Two wheel ruts run to the woods, cut
deep in the clay.
Mother talking to Lorenz, the baker's boy,
strollers under cherry trees.
My eyes stare at his knee socks,
topped off with fluffy bobbles,
Sunday-white.
Face and voice forgotten.
I paid no attention
to his words.
The baker had to enlist.
He went missing on the Eastern front.
Guided by other hands,
his peel shoots
over the ember hole.
The avenue of cherries has been felled.
The wind has a free run.
I see myself holding my mother's hand
in the avenue.
A shady walk full of leafy coolness.
A talk under a cherry tree,
refreshing, weighing light.
My mind's eye
held spell-bound
and astonished
on the bobbles of that
baker's Sunday.
over the track through the fields,
all the way to the stony vineyards.
Two wheel ruts run to the woods, cut
deep in the clay.
Mother talking to Lorenz, the baker's boy,
strollers under cherry trees.
My eyes stare at his knee socks,
topped off with fluffy bobbles,
Sunday-white.
Face and voice forgotten.
I paid no attention
to his words.
The baker had to enlist.
He went missing on the Eastern front.
Guided by other hands,
his peel shoots
over the ember hole.
The avenue of cherries has been felled.
The wind has a free run.
I see myself holding my mother's hand
in the avenue.
A shady walk full of leafy coolness.
A talk under a cherry tree,
refreshing, weighing light.
My mind's eye
held spell-bound
and astonished
on the bobbles of that
baker's Sunday.
Translated by Stefan Tobler
Page(s) 78
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