Three Texts from Other Texts
Pale Star:
K.M., 1923
(after Xu Zhimo)
Unintentionally imitating Chinese style
her hair was pitch black & straight
Her features seemed to me
like the purest Indian jade
or pristine snow in the Alps
Her brightly-coloured clothes
might have aroused some criticism
had they been worn by anyone else
on her they looked becoming
like green leaves on a flower
Her figure was so fragile
that a man standing beside her
felt his breathing to be too coarse
Foundry
Gefunden
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Ich ging im Walde
So für mich hin,
Und nichts zu suchen,
Das war mein Sinn. |
I went for a walk
in my lunch-hour
not looking for anything
in particular |
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Im Schatten sah ich
Ein Blümchen stehn,
Wie Sterne leuchtend
Wie Äuglein schön. |
I found a wild briar
undermining the wall
of an old foundry
like rusty steel |
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Ich wollt es brechen,
Da sagt' es fein:
Soll ich zum Welken,
Gebrochen sein? |
I knelt down beside it
although it looked
as if it were saying
Why should I be plucked |
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Ich grubs mit allen
Den Würzeln aus,
Zum Garten trug ichs
Am hübschen Haus. |
just to wither for you?
but I broke off a shoot
& carried it back
replanted it |
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Und pflanzt es wieder
Am stillen Ort;
Nun zweigt es immer
Und blüht so fort. |
by the link-fence
round my backyard
which it’s climbing all over
like a noxious weed |
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(Goethe) |
Toys:
China, 1908
(after Kathleen Pih-Chang)
I remember people seemed
to be quite friendly
with the missionaries
Once a robber broke
into their compound
& was executed
His head was put into
a wooden cage
& hung up on a tree
I remember as a child
seeing such cages
with little heads inside
sold in shops for toys
©Jack Ross |
