Morning.

In autumn the wind of fairies
                    align
as in the snow the
manes meet.
Blackbirds whistle afield
in the wind and eat.

Translated by Gary Sullivan and Oya Ataman.

* * *

Der Morgen.

Im Herbst da reiht der
                    Feenwind
da sich im Schnee die
Mähnen treffen.
Amseln pfeifen heer
im Wind und fressen.

* * *

Notes on "Morning." ("Der Morgen.")


"Der Morgen." in Herbeck's own hand. Click for larger image.

The German word "reiht" means "rank" or "lines up"--in my original translation, I went with the latter. I didn't like using two words to get across one, and Oya and I later agreed on "aligns."

The German word "Feenwind" = "fairies," plural, and "wind," singular. Another English translation of this poem renders this word "wraithwind," which is beautiful, but seems more consciously "poetic" than the original German.

There is no German word "heer," in lower case; although "Heer," with a capital H means "army." It is, however, close to "hier," which means "here." In the French translation of this poem, "heer" has been translated as "claironnent," and my inclination was to go with "clairionly." In discussing the poem with Oya, however, we hit on "afield," which seems to allude to "here," "army" and "clarionly."

* * *

Oswald Tschirtner's illustrations for "Der Morgen"




Illustrations by Oswald Tschirtner. Click images to enlarge.