.Ways of the wanderer!
For………………….Shadows of the trees
And hills, under sun, where
The path leads
To the church,
…………………..Rain
And trees, drowsing
Beneath the heavy tread of the sun,
For even so, even as it burns higher,
Over the steaming cities
Hang curtains of rain
For like ivy it dangles
Down without branches. Beautiful but
Now the ways yield
Fresher blossoms
To the wanderer
…..all outdoors sways…..as a field of grain.
Toward wooded Avignon over the Gotthard
Toils the steed. Laurels
Whisper above Vergil, so that
The sun does not
Unmanfully search out his grave.
Moss roses
Wax upon the Alps. Flowers start up
At the city gates, on the level untended paths
Like crystal growth in fallow wastes of the sea floor.
Gardens bloom round Windsor. On high
Arrives from London
The carriage of the King. Lovely gardens
Relieve the season.
By the canal. Deep below however lies
The even sea, glowing.
Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843): Griechenland (Greece), Hymnal Draft, first version, 1803, translation by TC
The Hare Hunt: Pieter Bruegel the Elder,1560, etching and engraving, 223 x 291 mm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
TOM CLARK.
