Sarah Kirsch
German Poems
Large House
from Saison fur Lyrik, 1968
This winter I want a house
want to dwell, hardly speak
various rooms
with various windows, one
has glass doors to the north, there I see
the treetops, ice in the boughs
hopping birds, the dogs of the Lapps
bells in the sleigh tracks
snow thaws, I wash
my mouth, the letters frozen stiff
huntsmen rush through the landscape, their guns
smoke, in their rucksacks they carry cones
welcome food for the fire
other windows
point to my town where the churches
on the market-place with various towers
rise to a pale black sky
merry-go-rounds rattle, Christmas barrel organs
induce melancholia
are meant to, I open
doors see only space now spread out over the earth -
- drift good sphere for a few more millenia
it could be we'll learn a bit —
I sit on my bed
withdraw from my boots think something up something
about gigantic ships with wings, and birds
that travel in cabins overland, I tell the pilot
our compass bearings he corrects my course
past Manila away to Siberia
he has eyelashes like grass shooting up
after the first rain, in his head
I could live
Translated by Michael Hamburger
Page(s) 155
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