Poem Of The Week, Week 6: April '63 - a translation by Martyn Crucefix

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.