genesis

Du, mein Freund, bist einsam, weil ...
Wir machen mit Worten und Fingerzeigen
uns allmählich die Welt zu eigen,
vielleicht ihren schwächsten, gefährlichsten Teil.

Wer zeigt mit Fingern auf einen Geruch? -
Doch von den Kräften, die uns bedrohten,
fühlst du viele ... Du kennst die Toten,
und du erschrickst vor dem Zauberspruch.

Sieh, nun heißt es zusammen ertragen
Stückwerk und Teile, als sei es das Ganze.
Dir helfen, wird schwer sein. Vor allem: pflanze

mich nicht in dein Herz. Ich wüchse zu schnell.
Doch meines Herrn Hand will ich führen und sagen:
Hier. Das ist Esau in seinem Fell.

You, my friend, are alone, because ...
With words and pointing fingers, we
lay claim to the world, gradually,
even its flimsiest, riskiest parts.

Who can point their finger at a smell?
But of the powers that give us dread,
you feel many ... You know the dead,
and are frightened by a magic spell.

Look, now we together must endure
bits and pieces, like they were the whole.
It's hard to help you. Please don't, above all,

plant me in your heart. I grow too quick.
But I'll guide my lord's hand and speak:
Here. This is Esau in his fur.

Translation notes:

This is written to a dog.

Lines 13-14: Referring to the story of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau in Genesis 27.

Some, seeking for the holy, look to lengthy written media; find certitude in yards of books like saint's encyclopedias. But books are works of men, and so must always miss the heart of it. The truth abides where no men go, and brevity's the soul of wit, so if it's true this universe began when something godlike stirred and wrote on dark unbeing's face, it only took a single verse, a single line, a single word to shatter all of time and space.

Tag Archives: genesis

Sonnets To Orpheus I, 16

Translation notes: