Melancholie des Abends
- Der Wald, der sich verstorben breitet -
Und Schatten sind um ihn, wie Hecken.
Das Wild kommt zitternd aus Verstecken,
Indes ein Bach ganz leise gleitet
Und Farnen folgt und alten Steinen
Und silbern glänzt aus Laubgewinden.
Man hört ihn bald in schwarzen Schlünden -
Vielleicht, daß auch schon Sterne scheinen.
Der dunkle Plan scheint ohne Maßen,
Verstreute Dörfer, Sumpf und Weiher,
Und etwas täuscht dir vor ein Feuer.
Ein kalter Glanz huscht über Straßen.
Am Himmel ahnet man Bewegung,
Ein Heer von wilden Vögeln wandern
Nach jenen Ländern, schönen, andern.
Es steigt und sinkt des Rohres Regung.
Georg Trakl
Melancholy of the Evening
- The forest, which widens deceased -
And shadows are around it, like hedges.
The deer comes trembling out of hidden places,
While a brook glides very quiet
And follows ferns and ancient stones
And gleams silverly from tangled foliage.
Soon one hears it in black gorges -
Perhaps, also that stars already shine.
The dark plain seems endless,
Scattered villages, marsh and pond,
And something feigns a fire to you.
A cold gleam shoos over roads.
In the sky one anticipates movement,
An army of wild birds migrates
Towards those lands, beautiful, distant.
The stirring of reeds rises and sinks.
(Translation by Jim Doss and Werner Schmitt)
No poet I have found who is more colourful in darkness. I have had his poems for more than ten years - they were one of my leaving presents when I moved to Glasgow. But it was only last autumn that I begun reading them in their colourful, mournful strangeness.
And rather fitting for some digital exploration of different colourways for the print. Do you have a preference? Other suggestions?
And, for the migrating birds, something in song. It's melancholic too, albeit a bit softer it seems. It was on my music player when I switched it on on my way into town a few days ago on a rainy gloomy afternoon.
And then I'm spinning and I'm diving like a cloud of starlings.
... Hm, how very delicious that line is. And for a bit live starling action, how's this:
3 comments:
I really really like the middle one. A beautiful blend of colours, and the way you've arranged the light-mid-dark tones makes it look like a cool summer dawn to me, with the light rising beyond the horizon and reflected in the pool in the foreground. Lovely!
Cate in Dundee
I prefer the darkness falling moodiness of the last one
Flocks of starlings are amazing aren't they? My husband had an allotment and we used to watch them circle and wheel in aerial ballet like that and then suddenly, all at once go down onto the factory roofs the other side of the river and it was all over.
Cheers... I'm after something cold grey eerie... will try with actually inks next; I've also done some changes to the lino blocks, to see how that works; ah, and: vivien, I do have your moley here, it will get some of that too :)
The cloud of starlings... that image caught me the very first time I heard it and it stuck. How fascinating...
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