back to Georg Trakl

“Blood Guilt” by Georg Trakl 🇦🇹 (3 Feb 1887 – 3 Nov 1914)
Translated from the German
Night threatens at the bed of our kisses.
Somewhere a whisper: who absolves your guilt?
Still trembling from the sweetness of nefarious lust
We pray: forgive us, Mary, in your mercy.
​
Out of flower vases greedy scents climb,
Wheedling our foreheads pale with guilt.
Exhausting under the waft of sultry air
We dream: forgive us, Mary, in your mercy.
​
But the well of the sirens rushes louder,
And the sphinx rises darker before our guilt,
So that our hearts sound again more sinfully,
We sob: forgive us, Mary, in your mercy.