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“Foehn” by Georg Trakl 🇦🇹 (3 Feb 1887 – 3 Nov 1914)
Translated from the German by Jim Doss & Werner Schmitt
Blind lament in the wind, moony winter days,
Childhood, quietly the steps fade near black hedge,
Long evening bells.
Quietly the white night approaches,
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Transforms pain and worriment into purple dreams
Of stony living,
So that the thorny sting will never leave the rotting body.
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Deep in slumber, the anxious soul heaves a sigh,
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Deep the wind in broken trees,
And the lamenting figure
Of the mother staggers through the lonely forest
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Of this speechless grief; nights
Filled with tears, fiery angels.
Silverly a childlike skeleton smashes on bleak wall.