Fjordscene Poetry

– we set our nets and hooksin filmy stillwater –we fetched them again in the morning –then the water could belike sloping green walls,falling down into dust – – some nights we got a good catch –then the nets lookedlike […]

I stumbled around in darkness,and I felt cold. I had beaten the ones,I cared for. I had stolen from the oneswho wished me well. I was evil and ugly,and no woman would smile at me. and I stared at my impure […]

square womanin a window –green rubber apron –starry eyeslook down at a little black dogby a lamppost. –bare blue armssometimesshe is bentover a white cold glossy bucket –she wrings the cloth –white foamy soap-watergushes in fine hard jetsout between red […]

do not believe,that the softly sounding tonesare from the most delicate strings –rather believethe sharp and cold tones,when strings are tightened too hard –do not believe,that the roaring strokescome from the strongest wings –rather believethe forced calmbefore the cliff rattles […]

we understood nothing,knew nothing,and we comforted each otherwe doubted together –but one daymy world became clear,and my sky light and warm –that dayI saw,I heard it,and I understood,why the earth before was grey,and why the sky now was light –but […]

I love you not,but I will come to youone day,when the wind hangs lazily high up above the sun,like a child who has played itself tired – I will come to you on the beach,where the rocks lie like loose […]

there are those,who every night rest on the same branchand only eat out of the right bowl. there are those,who every morning sing the same songand always to the same beloved,always only to one god. there are those,who only follow one […]

– you can hear it along the streetand down at the quay:that the fishermen dance at the inn – – and lord my god, how they dancelike large petroleum motorsand barrels on their way down the stairs,it is sturdy legs […]

– heavy, large, swayingwith thin, cold coatsthe mothers rock into the milk sales,the food courts,the clothing shops –– hasty gazes into oilcloth bags,glossy bags with many five cents,two cents,twentyfive cents –sighing glances in light wallets –careful questions:if there wasn’t something cheaper,smaller […]

I do not workwith my hands,not for the betterment of society –I waste away the daysby thinking endless thoughts.the days, which passemptywithout result –I wander the streetsday after day –I look at humans and doubt —— until now I have not learned to […]

we legionnaires of nakednesswe shall conquer the earthand deliver up humans to life – perhaps our only triumph shall bethe one,which streams from our oozing wounds –perhaps the world shall one day resound withthe stamping of our victorious sandals –

Look, here’s the beach of eternitywhere the stream runs past,and death plays in the bushesits certain, repetitive melody. Death, why do you silence?We were long underwayand long to hear,we never had a wet-nursewho could sing like you do. The wreath […]

I long for the land which is not,for I am tired of desiring all that is.The moon tells me with writing in silvery clear runesabout the land which is not.The land where all we wish for wondrously comes into being,the land where […]

There’s nobody in the world who has timeapart from God alone.And therefore all the flowers come to Himand so even the last among the ants. The forget-me-not asks him for cleaner glassin its blue eyesand the ant asks him for greater […]

The first snowflakes fell.Where the waves had written their runes in the sand of the riverbedwe went with devotion. And the beach said to me:See, here you wandered as a child, and I am always the same.And the tree near […]

How all the dead is wondrousand impossible to word:a dead leaf, a dead humanand the sickle of the moon.And all flowers know a secretand the forest keeps it:the wandering of the moon around our Earthis the path of death.And the […]

The trees of my childhood stand cheering around me: oh Human!and the grass greets me welcome home from foreign countries.My head I rest in the grass: mow I’m finally home.Now I turn my back on all which lie behind me:my […]

O, divine clarity on the child’s brow –its angel sees the Father in the Heavens. And the light which streams from the saint’s eyes is darkness compared withthe peace resting on the child’s brow, the divine peace. And the halo glowing around the […]

What is it which sounds from the graveyard: My own! My love!Whom is it who yells in the fog?It is the warrior’s wife who runs out to meet her husband.The image of God’s mother hangs on a snow-white cross with […]

The trees of my childhood stand tall in the grassand shake their heads: what’s become of you?Rows of columns stand as reproaches: unworthy you walk beneath us!You’re a child and should be able to do everything,why are you chained in […]