Midnight Pub

3rd Decan of Aries

~mellita

Georg Trakl

The following is the second section of 'The Young Maid,' which is dedicated to Ludwig von Ficker, his publisher and most stalwart advocate.

II

Silence she creates in the room

And long the yard is abandoned.

In the elderberry before the room

Sad piping of a blackbird's tune.

Silver her reflection in the mirror glass

Alien to her in the twilight glow

And wanly fades in the mirror glass

And her dread before its purity.

Dreamily a farmhand sings in darkness

And she stares, shaken by pain.

Red trickles through the darkness.

Suddenly the south wind rattles at the gate.

> (trans. by Will Stone)

Jim Harrison

Barking

The moon comes up.

The moon goes down.

This is to inform you

that I didn't die young.

Age swept past me

but I caught up.

Spring has begun here and each day

brings new birds up from Mexico.

Yesterday I got a call from the outside

world but I said no in thunder.

I was a dog on a short chain

and now there's no chain.

Up

Here I am at the gateless gate again hoping

to see father, mother, sister, brother.

Where did they come from? Where did they go?

I keep climbing this tree as old as the world

and have lost my voice up here in the thin air.

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Replies

~tatterdemalion wrote:

Thank you.

~johano wrote (thread):

These are beautiful, especially the second and third!

Also, given your post title(s), I take it that you study astrology?