Sunday 16 February 2020


Do not ask, what cuts through the night

by Christine Lavant
translated from the German by David Chorlton


Do not ask, what cuts through the night,
for it is my night
and my great peacock cry
and deep inside, the tongue
with a message for me alone.
Even when the sun tomorrow,
worn out and almost deformed,
wants to rest with Purgatory's bud,
she will be driven away -
for it is my own bud
on the back of my stone
and for my approaching night.


* * * * *

Editor's note: In German the sun is female.

"Do not ask, what cuts through the night" is from SHATTER THE BELL IN MY EAR: SELECTED POEMS OF CHRISTINE LAVANT, Translated from the German by David Chorlton (The Bitter Oleander Press, 2017).

Christine Lavant (July 4, 1915 – June 7, 1973) was an Austrian poet and novelist.

David Chorlton is a poet, translator, and visual artist. He lives in Phoenix. http://www.davidchorlton.mysite.com/



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