Georg Trakl: A Translation

An Evening In Winter

When snow kisses
my window
the evening bells
seem to peal forever...

The table is set,
the house neat,
prepared to receive.

From wandering,
many follow
their dusky paths
to this portal.

The earth's cool sap
sprouts a flowering tree
dripping golden grace.

Be still, sojourner, step in:
Sorrow has worried
this threshold
to naked stone.

But  look:
wrapped in pristine,
radiant light,
there on the table,
shine bread and wine.
  - trans. mce

Celebration for a Gray Day

Outside, rain;
inside, a party.
A little bourbon
against the chill;
warm wood fire;
a few friends
visit for the day.
Neruda, Sexton,
Rilke and Rumi
read;
Mozart and Scarlatti
play;
Magritte and Dali
present
surreal rainbows -
who says
I don't know how
to entertain?
  - mce

Refuge

 - for Hector and Susie Black

Your kitchen -
cordial, like
the beating heart
of a good man.
How many lost souls
have found asylum
at this long table?
Cold day, warm hearth -
sanctuary.
  - mce

Best Advice

- for Luke

I advise
my God Son
(for whom
I am called
to be wise),
just watch
what I do
and you do
the opposite.
You'll be fine.
  - mce

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Build a fire;
face the day.
So many roads
yet to walk.
Where do
they all lead?
Can't know;
doesn't matter:
take a step.
  - mce

Know Thyself

World says, must;
I say, won't:
pain results.
Classic definition
of a fuck-up.
  - mce

Encounter

The leaf-mottled
copperhead coiled
near my woodpile,
rendered sluggish
and harmless
by the cold,
makes no move
to strike.
Its flat eyes
simply stare,
as if to say:
welcome
to the Garden.
  - mce

Rainer Maria Rilke - Two Translations from the German

Over and Over

Over and over,
no matter how vividly
we know love's landscape
and the lost cemetery
with its sad names
and the chasm into which
the others have fallen,
once again we walk together
beneath ancient trees
and lie down entwined
among the blossoms
facing the sky.
  - trans. mce

Autumn Day

God, the time is now.
Summer was vast.
Drop your shadow
across the sundials
and loose your breath
upon the fields.

Command the last fruits
to fullness,
allow them a few warm days
to discover ripeness
and press their sweetness
into heavy wine.

No time remains
to seek refuge.

If you are now alone
you will remain so
for a long, long time.

You will stay up late,
writing letters
to no one,
restlessly wandering
the hollow streets
while the leaves
tumble aimlessly.
  - trans. mce

Original Face

Frost -
leaf crunch
golden,
underfoot.

A man is
walking
down a road
thinking
of a man
walking
down a road
thinking...

Two red-tail hawks
circle above them.

Which man
is he?
 - mce

Other Harbors

A pirate
sails in
and then
sails away;
what a pirate
cannot do
is stay.
  - mce

The Geography of Love

I do not understand
the geography of love.
Perhaps I dozed
through that class.
Again and again,
I lose my way
in Love’s wilderness.
When I ask directions,
women answer
in languages
I can’t understand.
So many wrong turns.
So many dead ends.
Sister, if you
know the way,
show me the way.
  - mce

Permanence

Five years on,
Struggle Mountain
remains home.
The world
has fallen away -
people, possessions,
beliefs -
like autumn leaves.
Bare trees,
frosty mornings,
my own breath,
solitude;
only the same wind
speaks to me.
It whispers:
wake up,
get up,
show up,
expect nothing -
the one thing
in all creation
you can count on.
  - mce

Intoxication

Open yourself
to me
like a delicate,
fresh blossom;
I will become
a wanton,
profligate
hummingbird
getting drunk
on the nectar
of your soul.
  - mce

Carnal Knowledge 1968

Making love,
that first time,
in the cemetery
near the
Civil War statue,
our passion
disturbed
a flock of doves
feeding among
the tombstones.
White streaks
exploded
into blue sky.
One kind
of innocence
flown
forever.
  - mce

Koan

Sometimes,
I am lonely;
sometimes,
I am content;
sometimes,
both occur
at once.
Contradiction -
the face of God,
laughing.
  - mce

TANSTAAFL

If you knew
what to do
with your life,
it wouldn't be
your life.

It would be
a poem
written by
a stranger.

Uncertainty
is the price
for singing
your own song,
adventure,
authenticity,
the rewards.

Courage:

lift up
your voice,
sing
as if your
whole life
depends on it.

It does.
  - mce

ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ

In bondage,
he knew it all;
free now,
he knows nothing.
Even a pirate's life
comes with a price.
  - mce

The Uncertainty Of Creation

Letters - tinder;
syllables - spark;
words - embers;
poems - flames;
unless the breath
of imagination fails.
Then, only cold
gray smoke.
  - mce

The Horticulture Of Joy

He planted a garden
to save his mind
and change his life.
It blossomed -
color, texture, fragrance -
plenitude of beauty,
but his soul withered
and all remained the same.
Later, far from there,
he allowed a garden
to grow inside his heart.
Everything changed,
forever.
  - mce

Debbie

Your eyes
are the color
of Tennessee
whiskey,
only smoother,
warmer,
and more
intoxicating. 
  - mce

The Futility Of Anger

When you stand
in your own shadow,
it is absurd
to curse the darkness.
  - mce

She Was Right

An old lover
called me Messy.
The detritus
of my life
sprawls upon
every available
surface.
Mind of man,
clutter;
mind of God,
order.
So much more
work to do.
  - mce

Zen Insight

If you understand, things are just as they are;
if you do not understand, things are just as they are.

Serenity Morning

Hard frost;
steaming creek;
freezing cabin.

Light a fire;
build it bigger;
make it roar.

The illusions
of past lives
draw up
the flue,
sail out
the chimney.

Expect nothing;
be on fire
from within.

One life only
and this is it.
  - mce

Dog Or Butterfly?

I awoke
from a dream
of waking
beside
your warmth:
a dream
of waking
into a dream.
  - mce

Tell Me More

Your voice, Lady,
enchants me:
I want to know
your whole story.
If only you
understood
how closely
I listen
when you speak.
How I wrap
my mind around
your words
like my arms
enfold your body.
You are
a warrior woman;
the heroine
of an old,
noble tale.
Tell me again
how a maiden
came to be trapped
in a labyrinth
she did not devise;
how she struggled
and fought
and kept moving
until she won through
and broke free.
It speaks
high adventure
and courage.
Your voice, Lady,
enchants me.
I want to know
all of you.
- mce

Old Friend

Struggle Mountain
you have noticeably
flattened out.
Peak or plateau?
Doesn't matter.
You remain
the only mountain
I will ever know.
  - mce

Lose To Gain

Losing everything
freed me to see
what really matters:
the barn burns down -
suddenly, the moon
comes into view.
- mce

Destinations

The topography
of your woman's body
speaks a map
of promised delight.

Your eyes,
deep brown oceans
to sail within;
your lips,
yielding portals
to the unknown;
your belly,
an undulating plain
of pleasures
to cross;
your breasts,
gentle, rising,
white hills of joy
to climb;
between
your soft thighs,
a ripe female valley
of desire
to enter.

Above it all
your spirit
soars
like flocks
of doves
in limpid
morning light.

Only to be worthy
to cross over
into these
promised lands.

New worlds
to explore;
new creations
to pioneer:

New places
where souls
might touch.
- mce

Plato Was Right

Last night
I dreamed of war.
The choppers buzzed
like mad whirring insects,
the napalm exploded
like hell's own fire,
the wounded screamed
like tortured babies,
the dying begged me
to tell them why
and I couldn't
because there is
no why in war,
no moral, no reason.
Waking, I dream
of dreams of peace
that will never arrive.
Only the dead
know the end of war.
 - mce

A Pirate Looks At Sixty

The broken heart
cannot sing alone,
nor the lonely hand
take up the brush.

Take my hand
and walk into
the garden.

Sing this life
with me.

Let me kiss
the world
with your lips.

Let me see
the earth
fresh
through
your eyes.

Touch me,
touching you,
touching all
of creation.

Love bends time.

There are
masterpieces
yet to paint.

Color, texture,
tint and hue...

I will be
your canvas,
you mine.

The desire
for connection
never ends.

The need
for wholeness
where soul
has been rent:

human,
oh so human,
but also
divine.
 - mce

Birthday Song

"Let us forget with generosity
those who cannot love us"- Pablo Neruda

Fifty-eight
is not a kid,
not even
middle-aged.

The end game
looms.

Time to turn off
the past
and be where
and who I am.

No more ghosts,
old lovers,
ruined life,
lost children:
no more contrition.

I have made
my apologies
too many times.

Now, I set it all free.

Time to venture
into what's left,
alone but unafraid.

Here I go.
  - mce

Flight

This morning,
walking Spring Creek,
I spooked a doe
in the meadow below.
Mist hugged the earth
tight as a glove.
All I could see
was her tawny head
bobbing in the rain
as she fled.
  - mce

Ineluctable Reality

A thirty foot
unprotected walk
through pouring rain
to the outhouse.

Looking In/Looking Out

Eyes are windows
and mirrors,
simultaneously
transparent
and specular:
look through mine
and see the heart
that calls out
your name;
look at mine
and see the image
of all I desire
reflected back
as your own face.
Don't worry.
I won't blink.
  - mce

Considering Schrödinger's Cat On A Rainy Tennessee Morning

Had I a wife
I would love her;
had I a son,
I would love him;
had I a cat,
I would love it.
Having none
of these,
I choose
to love them
anyway.
Three boxes
to open;
three choices
to make;
three worlds
to create.
- mce

"Perfection Of A Kind..."

The Gulag
was not a system;
Auschwitz
was not a camp;
Wounded Knee
was not a battle;
My Lai
was not a village.

They are all
an impulse
never far
from the thoughts
of men,
never truly absent.

The desire
to dominate
lurks in every
human heart.

Peel back
but a few layers
of civilization
(easily done):
the whole world
explodes
into  holocaust.
 - mce

Thermonuclear Love

We will bury ourselves
each into the other -
turning, exploring,
finding, knowing -
until the night
collapses upon us,
until we destroy
the darkness,
until our souls
flare incandescent,
radiant, effulgent,
until light explodes
from the touching
of our bodies.
Thermonuclear love.
 - mce

Ashes And Embers

Softly I dream
the bronze
pealing notes
of your laughter,
imagine
the subtle knowledge
of your tiny hands,
feel the warmth
in the whispering kitten
of your voice.

Nothing remains
to desire.

If the searing flames
of your beauty
would consume me,
my soul could
find contentment
in ashes and embers.
  - mce

Eternal Return

Everything dies,
but nothing ends.

Into the Bardo
we go,
for a moment,
and then return,
eternally.

The Wheel
of Life
never ceases
to spin:

war, death,
love, loss -
the taste
of wine,
the brush
of your lips
on mine;

this has all
happened before;
this will all
happen again.
  - mce

Contentment After Long Struggle

The simple warmth
of morning sunlight
on my face.

A few memories,
a little music,
the gentle murmur
of flowing water,
some small things
to anticipate.

Not a lot to ask,
but so much
to finally have.
  - mce

Circle Of Love

- for Carole St-Aubin

The dream
of true love:
affection
and soul
that collapse
decades
to find their
proper object.

What we all
want;
what so few
discover.

But real,
real beyond
the mundane
constraints
of time
and life.

True love,
forever
and ever.

A perfect rose
stubbornly
blooming,
warm and
scarlet,
against
the killing
frost
of eternity.

Testament
to the hope
and heart
that live
within us all.
  - mce

Poet's Lament

Too busy
to write
equals
too busy
to breathe:
lately,
I find myself
gasping.
  - mce

Yesterday's Blueberries

"À la recherche du temps perdu..."
 
Pale gray of gun-metal,
the sky lowers on the valley:
random sunbeams
rend floating mist banks.

On the ridges,
trees weep fall colors,
russet, pumpkin, fawn,
a few leaves streaked
tentative red against
fading greenness.

Scarlet rumors
mottle the patch.

Yesterday's blueberries
gone now,
picked, savored, relished:
lovely, sweet, indigo memories
facing backward
to fading summer warmth.

Yesterday's lovers, friends,
wars, deaths, children:
safe to remember
as the fire crackles
and the wood smoke rises.

Living again,
whole and complete,
pleasant to recall,
they dwell
consummate
in memory
where all things past
truly belong,
where all things past
must rest.
  - mce

The First Noble Truth

Wanting makes weary:
only the flutter
of your eyelids
saying yes
can deliver me
to the end of desire.
  - mce

"A Princess To Rescue..."

Lady, in the distance

a white tower,
pale as a dream,
looms in shrouding mist.
Enchantment and magic,
some dark,
some dangerous,
murmur within
this dripping morning.
Hold tight to me
against the chill.
We must traverse
this haunted forest
to reach our goal;
we must push on,
beset by ghosts,
by fear and doubt,
until we cross
the steaming moat
and arrive safely
before the great hall's
warming hearth,
there to rest
in each other's arms.
This journey
was never meant
to be traveled alone.
Ride out with me, Lady.
Cling to me.
We are nearly there.

 - mce

Chop Wood, Carry Water

Another day
to show up for.

Chores to do,
classes to teach,
choices to make:

nothing special.

Just what is,
just all that is,
just everything
that matters.
  - mce

Princess Poem #3

May your
broken heart
one day
be as whole
and healed
as your touch
made mine.
The world
sings sweetly:
listen.
  - mce

Suit

Let me cast
my heart
like a net
of desire
upon the body
of your soul.

Let us
struggle,
gently,
within it.

Let us
writhe
and turn
as one.

Let us
be caught
together.

Sweetest
bondage.
  -mce

Impending Birthday Considerations

October sings,
time passes;
another year,
another verse.

How many stanzas
remain in the book
of my life?

How many songs
remain unsung?

What lips remain
to be opened?

How soon before
purple nightingales
sing me
through eternity?

Nothing
can be known,
for sure,
except that
each October
another page turns
and one fewer
remains.
- mce

"I Crave Your Mouth, Your Voice, Your Hair"

 - for Pablo Neruda

In your poems
the sun sang
yellow invitations,
eagles swam
in lilac ink,
butterflies discoursed
on desire,
the moon
whispered white
mysteries.

Your syllables said:
these are my arms, Lady,
lose that silky frock
and come into them.

My love feeds
on your love,
Love.

My lips
are for you.

You are mine;
I am yours.

We stand here,
the briefest moment;
let us stand together,
naked in eternity.

Dare to embrace this,
you murmured,
for it is all
the world can offer.

Eyelids fluttered out
ardent yeses;
sighs replied;
fingers danced;
many dresses
glided to the floor
with tiny gasps
of imagined pleasure.

Flesh and spirit
conjoined.

What woman,
could resist
the implacable sweetness
of your songs?

What woman,
having a heart
to hear,
would want to try?
 - mce