The last poem we’d like to share with you this week is April ‘63, which is Marytn Crucefix’s translation of a German poem by Peter Huchel.
April ‘63
Looking up from the chopping-block
under a light rain,
with axe in hand,
I see up there in the wide boughs
five young jays.
In silence, they chase, they indicate
from branch to branch,
pointing a way for the sun
through the hazy undergrowth.
And a fiery tongue flashes among the trees.
I make my bed
in the icy hollow of my years.
I split logs,
the tough splintery wood of isolation.
And I settle myself
among spiders’ webs,
deepening further the desolation of the shed,
among the odours of pine
piled rough-cuts with axe in hand.
Looking up from the chopping-block
in warm April rain,
I see leafless
horse-chestnut boughs,
their sticky sheaths
of buds shine.
Crucefix’s most recent publications include, ‘Cargo of Limbs’ (Hercules Editions). His most recent blog posts can be found here.