Poetry Blog No 140 Four poems from German - Birds, Luck Like A Wanton, The Sigh, Moon-Night

FOUR POEMS FROM THE GERMAN- BIRDS, LUCK LIKE A WANTON, THE SIGH, MOON-NIGHT

BIRDS is a short poem by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von) Schlegel (1772 – 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher and philologist.. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figures of the Jena romantics. He was a zealous promoter of the Romantic movement and inspired other writers like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, This poem was set to music by Schubert.

LUCK LIKE A WANTON is a short ironic poem by Heinrich Heine. Towards the end of his life luck abandoned him. In May 1848 he fell ill from lead poisoning and was confined to bed for eight years until his death.

THE SIGH is a humorous poem from Christian Morgenstern (1871 – 1914) a German poet, writer and translator. He is particularly famous for his whimsical and "nonsense" poems.

MOON-NIGHT is a short, famous poem from Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff. Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 1788 – 26 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some of his works have been very popular in Germany. From Wikipedia.

 Heine

 Schelgel

 Eichendorff

Morgenstern

BIRDS

From the German of Friedrich Schlegel

It's a joy and delight, as we glide and we sing,

To glance from clear heights and view everything.

For men are all foolish, they cannot fly;

They weep in their need, we rise through the sky.

And we scoff at the hunter as we peck his fruit,

Then startle and fly off before he can shoot.

 Fortuna Goddess of Goof Fortune

Ate Goddess of Mischief

LUCK LIKE A WANTON

After the German of Heinrich Heine

Luck like a wanton won't allow

Herself to make too long a stay,

She smooths the hair back from her brow,

Gives a quick kiss and slips away.

Yet Mrs Misfortune's otherwise,

She takes to you with love instead,

"I'm in no hurry, dear," she sighs

And knits while sitting by your bed.

THE SIGH

after the German of Christian Morgenstern

A sigh sped on skates on the ice in the night

and dreamt upon love and on pleasures.

It was by the town wall, and snowy and white

glittered the town wall's high structures.

The sigh, he thought of a girl so sweet

and glowing, stood in dream...

That melted the ice track under his feet-

and he sank- and was nevermore seen.

Moonlight Ralph Albert Blakelock

MOON-NIGHT

after the German of Joseph Freiherr Von Eichendorff

It was as if the sky

The earth had quietly kissed,

That she must dream of him,

Alone, in flower-mist.

Through fields there flew a breeze,

Corn ears waved softly near,

Low-rustled forest trees;

The night was so star-clear.

And then my soul outspread

Her wings, wide and alone,

Through silent lands she fled,

As if she flew towards home.