To a Woman Passer-by

I have once seen passing-by

A face rich with pain,

That seemed akin to me deeply and clandestinely,

So god-sent -

And passed and disappeared.

I have once seen passing-by

A face rich with pain,

That impressed me,

As if I had recognized one,

Who dreaming I once called beloved

[...] Read more

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Melusine

At my windows the night weeps -
The night is mute, the wind probably weeps,
The wind, like a lost child -
What is it that makes him weep so?
O poor Melusine!

Like fire her hair blows in the storm,
Like fire passing clouds, and laments -
There for you, you poor maiden,
My heart speaks a still night prayer!
O poor Melusine!

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Klage

Dreamless sleep - the dusky Eagles
nightlong rush about my head,
man's golden image drowned
in timeless icy tides. On jagged reefs
his purpling body. Dark
echoes sound above the seas.

Stormy sadness' sister, see
our lonely skiff sunk down
by starry skies:
the silent face of night.

Translated by Jurek Kirakowski

Anonymous submission.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Delirium

The black snow runs down from the rooftops;
A red finger dips into your brow;
Blue snow flakes sink into the empty room,
They are a lovers’ dying mirrors.
Heavy and torn to pieces the mind muses,
Follows the shadow in the mirror of blue snow flakes,
The cold smile of a deceased harlot.
The evening’s wind weeps in the scent of carnations.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Before Sunrise

In the dark many bird voices call,

The trees and the springs murmur noisily,

In the clouds a rose-colored glow sounds

Like early love's distress. The night blues away -

With shy hands the twilight softly polishes

The love lair, feverishly stirred up,

And lets the drunkenness of languished kisses end

In dreams, smiling and felt half-awake.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

My Heart at Evening

Toward evening you hear the cry of the bats.
Two b l a c k h o r ses bound in the pasture,
The red maple rustles,
The walker along the road sees ahead the small
tavern.
Nuts and young wine taste delicious,
Delicious: to stagger drunk into the darkening woods.
Village bells, painful to hear, echo through the black
fir branches,
Dew forms on the face.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

The Shadow

Since I sat in the garden this morning -

The trees stood abloom in blue,

Full of thrush calls and trills -

I saw my shadow in the grass,

Immensely distorted, a fantastical animal,

That lay before me like a bad dream.

And I left and trembled very much,

Meanwhile a fountain sang in the blueness

And a bud leapt purple

And the animal went alongside.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Mourning

The dark eagles, sleep and death,
Rustle all night around my head:
The golden statue of man
Is swallowed by the icy comber
Of eternity. On the frightening reef
The purple remains go to pieces,
And the dark voice mourns
Over the sea.
Sister in my wild despair
Look, a precarious skiff is sinking
Under the stars,
The face of night whose voice is fading.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

Daydreaming

Soft life grows in the stillness

Step and heart hurries through the green

Loving stays at hedges,

That heavily fill up with scents.

Beech ponders; the moist bells

Fell silent, the fellow sings

Fire embraces darkness

O patience and mute rejoicing.

Beautifully animated, silent night

Still gives glad courage to the end.

[...] Read more

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!

To Lucifer

Lend your flame to the spirit, glowing gloom;

Sighing the head rises into midnight,

At the greening spring hill; where before

A gentle lamb bled, endured the deepest

Pain; but the dark one follows the shadow

Of evil, or he lifts the moist wings

To the golden disk of the sun and a sound of bells

Convulses his pain-torn breast,

Wild hope; the sinisterness of flaming fall.

poem by Georg Trakl
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!