Poems referring to Paul Celan’s poetry by Germain Droogenbroodt

NIGHTTIME

 

at the eastern window
appears to him now the tiny
wandering figure of emotion
                –Paul Celan

 

Along the branches of the trees
ascends now the darkness,
and the evening,
dying a thousand deaths
condenses into night
adorning with its black veil
the twinkling light
the sprinters of the day

 

At the window of my room
as vain beacon burns
the electric light.

 

English needs to be checked

 

from: “Palpable Absence”

 

 

Nachttijd

 

    am östlichen Fenster
erscheint ihm zur Nachtzeit die schmale
Wandergestalt des Gefühls
Paul Celan


Langs het takwerk der bomen
klimt nu omhoog het duister,
en de avond,
die duizend doden sterft,
verdicht nu tot nacht
die haar zwarte sluier siert
met tintellicht:
de scherven van de dag.

 

In het venster van mijn kamer
brandt als vergeefse baken
het elektrisch licht.

Uit: “Tastbare afwezigheid”

 

 

Tiempo de la noche



   en la ventana de Oriente
se asoma al tiempo de la noche la estrecha
silueta caminante del sentimiento
                 Paul Celan

Por las ramas de los árboles
sube ahora la oscuridad,
y la tarde, muriendo mil muertes,
se condensa en noche,

 

adorna su vela negra
con luces titilantes:
fragmentos de día.

 

En la ventana de mi cuarto
prende, cual faro inútil,
la luz eléctrica.

 

de “Palpable como la ausencia”

 

 

NIGHTHORN

 

          for Paul Celan



Full moon
strangling light
on the black water
of the lake

 

magic circle
in which like mosquitoes dance
the ghosts of deceased poets

 

following the night horn’s call
lost in the haze.

 

From “Do you know the Country?, Meditations at Lake Como”

 

 

Nachthoorn (Pognana 16/8/89

                   voor Paul Celan



Volle maan
worglicht
op het zwarte water
van het meer

 

tovercirkel
waarin als muggen
de geesten der gestorven dichters dansen

 

de lokroep
van de nachthoorn volgend
in de nevel verdwaald.

 

Uit „Ken je het land?, Meditaties aan het Comomeer”

 

 

As one knows…

 

When the night wrecked its forests…
                Paul Celan

 

As one knows
that a subterranean river
is invisible but nevertheless is there

 

so he knows
how helpless the body
pours out its life and self-destructs

 

precisely at this moment
life seems easier
than ever before.

 

 

Como se sabe…

 

Cuando la noche destrozaba sus bosques…
Paul Celan

 

Como se sabe
que un río subterráneo
no es visible y sin embargo existe

 

él sabe
que indefenso el cuerpo
vierte y destruye su vida

 

precisamente ahora
que vivir sería tan sencillo
como nunca antes.

 

De “Conversación con el más allá”

 

 

Zoals men weet…

Als die Nacht ihre Wälder verheerte…
Paul Celan

 

Zoals men weet
dat een onderaardse rivier
niet zichtbaar is en niettemin bestaat

 

weet hij
hoe weerloos het lichaam
zijn leven uitstort en vernielt

 

precies op dit moment
nu leven zo eenvoudig lijkt
als nooit voorheen.

 

Uit: “Gesprek met de overkant”

 

 

Mandorla

In the almond, what is in the almond?
The nothingness

Paul Celan

Soundless foghorn
the moist mouth behind the bars
of darkness

 

don’t call me
don’t give me a name

 

other than somebody
who passed by.

 

From “Unshadowed Light”

 

 

Mandorla

 

In der Mandel, was steht in der Mandel?
Das Nichts
Paul Celan

Klankloze misthoorn
de vochtige mond achter het traliewerk
van duisternis

 

noem mij niet
geef mij geen naam

 

anders dan iemand
die voorbijging.

 

Uit “Ontschaduwd light”

 

 

MANDORLA


En la mandorla, ¿Qué está en la ¿
La nada
               Paul Celan

 

El crepúsculo

desplaza los límites de la luz

invisible ahora

el escollo

– espina o rosa, juega la noche sus dados

con pecios y caracolas

del pirata

ardor de brasas candentes en el corazón

que con los dedos afables de antaño lee

imágenes amarillentas.

 

De “Desombrada luz”

 

 

Voice

 

A voice, out of which
you take the drink.
Paul Celan

 

Star-drinking the moon-mouth
at the night’s vault

 

voice-goblet
quenching-drink for the low-tide

 

poppy-glow in the breakers
of the heart.

 

From “Unshadowed Light”

 

 

Stem

 

Eine Stimme, aus dem du
den Trunk schöpfst
Paul Celan

 

Sterdrinkend de maanmond
in het nachtgewelf

 

Stembeker
lesdrank voor de ebbe

 

Papavergloed in de branding
van het hart.

 

Uit “Ontschaduwd licht”

 

 

Voz

Una voz, de la que tú
sacas la bebida
Paul Celan

 

Estrella-bebiendo la boca de la luna
en la bóveda de la noche

 

caliz-de-voz
bebida que sacia para el reflujo

 

ardor-amapola en el rompiente
del corazón.

 

de “Desombrada luz”

 

 

WHEN MY LIP BLEEDS BY THE LANGUAGE

                        to Paul Celan

 

The ice-wind pulls at the clockface

bends shadowly *

the hands

 

razor-sharp

in the evening glow

the bird’s cry.

 

 

* shadowly: neologism, means in the way of the shadow

English must be revised

from: “In the Stream of Time, Meditations in the Himalayas”

 

 

ALS DIE LIPPE MIR BLUTET VOR SPRACHE

voor Paul Celan

 

De ijswind rukt aan het cijferblad
buigt schaduwgewijs
de wijzers om

 

vlijmscherp
in het avondrood
de vogelkreet.

 

Uit¨ In de stroom van de tijd, Meditaties in de Himalaya

 

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Germain DROOGENBROODT: Poems (english)

DAWN

 

Slowly
as a poem writes itself
daybreak comes
from nothing into being

disposes of silence
and brings light

everywhere arises green
victuals for the sun

which from the earth
no other darkness removes

but the night.

***

DO NOT follow the stars of the night
but go upstream following the darkness
earthly and palpable

 

don’t save the alms
share bread and wine
with the nomads of the night

 

throw roses in the break of day.

 

 

***

THE STARS are hardly more
than dispersed fragments
of an invisible unity

 

Resisting all questions
about what disappears
or continues to exist

 

just as in the stem of the autumn tree
although invisible
the blossom is already present.

 

QUESTION

 

Earth, are you still more
than a spark of the primal light

 

a mutilated boulder
lost in the universe?

 

The golden calf
unwinged the angel

and the ruler
–as prophet disguised–
spreads lies as truth

 

barely audible remains
the familiar wingbeat
the double pulse of the heart.

 

 

HOPE

 

Since many months no rain

they suffer

but still they are green

because without hope

neither they can live

– the trees.

 

 

LIFE

 

Like an ephemeral flower

like a handful of snow

which for a moment glitters in the sun

and melts

slowly seeps away

 

merges with

and again becomes

-earth.

EAGLE

 

The ravens fly in swarms
the eagle flies alone
Luchino Visconti

 

So close to heaven
flies the eagle
lonely
as the poet

who patiently waits
the arrival of a verse

till the pen

scratches finally a few a few lines

still doubting
the sense

the idleness
of naming.

 

 

WHAT ELSE…

What else
searches the word for
in the sediment of the verse
if not for the impalpable
– which exists

just as the water of the river
escapes the hand
but learns its limits in the jar
conserves its form
and refreshes

as sometimes does
a poem

 

SHANGHAI

 

Unmoved flowing
between past and present:

the river

 

reflecting at dusk
the heaven-defying towers
the colourful, ephemeral glitter

nameless

the testament
the stone trace of men.

 

WRITING POETRY

 

Find the bottom
at the bottomless

 

read the hours
in the whirlpool
of time

 

experience silence
not as a void
but as fullness

 

unfold light
with the shadows
of the night

 

span a bridge
with unspoken words

create a rainbow
with the colours of peace.

 

SEARCHING FOR LIGHT
(To Hugo Mujica)

Although the roots
searching for water
embrace each other

 

and the branches
searching for light
draw apart

Continue reading „Germain DROOGENBROODT: Poems (english)”