“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
Last night you said, "I like you," –– "I LIKE YOU!" –– only that And yet –– my heart became –– Like a soaring bird –– Singing of new found joy –– To a sad and lonely world.
Kapok fills the cushions on the wicker –– A busy English “fruit and flower” print. Tendrils green and shades of orange flicker Harmoniously. Detailed like a mezzotint,
Yet warm with citrus hues, highlighted leaves Scrupulously shaded, lissome brownish twigs, Awake a sense of comfort that relieves Nostalgia for the sight of ripening figs.
Delighting as the heavy greenish fruit Evolves, grows purple, tender, moist and soft Reaching sweet perfection bound to suit Sons and daughters jousting in the loft
Over whom no one exerts control. Now, who's to play the future gardener’s role?
I gaze now in perpetual wonderment, grief And sorrow at the jagged, rotting stump Of the once-vital, arcing grandeur Of the dear and familiar tree That gave me shade and comfort, While all around me weeds, thorns Strange, stunted saplings, and bitter fruit Litter the parched stony soil Beneath a pitiless, gray wintery sky.
Heine's poem "The Almond Tree" was set to music by Robert Schumann along with several of Heine's there poems to from the cycle Dichterliebe.
Mueller's poetry inspired Franz Schubert to compose both Die Schooner Muellerin (The Beautiful Maid of the Mill) and Die Winterrreise (Winter's Journey). Der Lindenbaum is part of the latter cycle. Few realize upon hearing it at first that Der Lindenbaum is really a subtle invitation to a rejected lover to commit suicide.
__________ TREES __________
ReplyDeleteI think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~ Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
Oft in the night
ReplyDeleteI see the shadows of the trees
On my bare chamber walls ––
Silhouettes dancing –– dancing ––
Dancing in strange and secret rhythm
To the restless music of the wind.
~ FreeThinke (1961)
Last night you said, "I like you," ––
ReplyDelete"I LIKE YOU!" –– only that
And yet –– my heart became ––
Like a soaring bird ––
Singing of new found joy ––
To a sad and lonely world.
~ FreeThinke (1961)
__________ CONSEERVATORY __________
ReplyDeleteKapok fills the cushions on the wicker ––
A busy English “fruit and flower” print.
Tendrils green and shades of orange flicker
Harmoniously. Detailed like a mezzotint,
Yet warm with citrus hues, highlighted leaves
Scrupulously shaded, lissome brownish twigs,
Awake a sense of comfort that relieves
Nostalgia for the sight of ripening figs.
Delighting as the heavy greenish fruit
Evolves, grows purple, tender, moist and soft
Reaching sweet perfection bound to suit
Sons and daughters jousting in the loft
Over whom no one exerts control.
Now, who's to play the future gardener’s role?
~ FreeThinke
_________ A Backward Glance _________
ReplyDeleteI gaze now in perpetual wonderment, grief
And sorrow at the jagged, rotting stump
Of the once-vital, arcing grandeur
Of the dear and familiar tree
That gave me shade and comfort,
While all around me weeds, thorns
Strange, stunted saplings, and bitter fruit
Litter the parched stony soil
Beneath a pitiless, gray wintery sky.
~ FreeThinke
_________ The Almond Tree _________
ReplyDeleteThere grows by the hour an almond tree
fragrantly
and airly
spreading his leafy branches.
Many lovely blossoms does he bear;
gentle
winds
come to caress them.
They whisper, paired two by two,
gracefully
inclining
their tender heads to kiss.
They whisper of a maiden
who thinks
day and night long
of ... but Alas! she does not herself know!
They whisper –– who can understand
such a soft
song? ––
they whisper of a bridegroom and of the coming year.
The maiden listens, the tree rustles;
yearning,
hoping,
she sinks smiling into sleep and dream.
~ Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) - translated from the German
_______ The Linden Tree _______
ReplyDeleteBy the well just past the ramparts,
there stands a linden tree.
While sleeping in his shadow,
sweet dreams he sent to me.
And in his bark I chiseled
my messages of love:
My pleasures and my sorrows
were welcomed from above.
Today I had to pass him,
well in the depth of night ––
and still, in all the darkness,
my eyes closed to his sight.
His branches bent and rustled,
as if they called to me:
Come here, come here, companion,
your refuge I shall be!
The icy winds were blowing,
straight in my face they ground.
The hat tore off my forehead.
I did not turn around.
Away I walked for hours
whence stands the linden tree,
and still I hear him whisp'ring:
You'll find your peace with me!
~ Wilhelm Mueller (1794018-27) - translated from the German
Heine's poem "The Almond Tree" was set to music by Robert Schumann along with several of Heine's there poems to from the cycle Dichterliebe.
ReplyDeleteMueller's poetry inspired Franz Schubert to compose both Die Schooner Muellerin (The Beautiful Maid of the Mill) and Die Winterrreise (Winter's Journey). Der Lindenbaum is part of the latter cycle. Few realize upon hearing it at first that Der Lindenbaum is really a subtle invitation to a rejected lover to commit suicide.