FLORA

Tree Haiku (Bloomsbury)

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Tree Haiku
(Bloomsbury)

*

All silvery silk,
its ball-gown is billowing:
the Monterey pine.

*

A tall shady cave
filled with invisible song:
a group of old yews.

*

Those great wars do not
touch it, nor those great poems:
the ancient gingko.

*

Christina Egan ©2022

*


Only gingko-trees survived
the atomic bomb at Hiroshima;
Goethe wrote a much-quoted
poem about a gingko-leaf.

The “invisible song” was
perhaps of the goldcrest,
which I spotted with delight
at the same site another time.

*

Gingko biloba. Photograph by CS76, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hinter dem Olivenbaum

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Hinter dem Olivenbaum

Noch hemmen Frost und Nebel allzulang
den bunten Garten,
und fast verstummt der volle Vogelsang,–
noch muß ich warten.

White rose, pink buds, hawthorns, all covered by melting snow.

Im Süden werd’ ich keinen Schnee mehr sehn,
bloß weiße Rosen,
die meine Lippen, wenn sie mannshoch stehn,
verstohlen kosen.

Einst wird mir hinter dem Olivenbaum
Oleander prangen,
und Blumenfluten streifen wie ein Saum
die warmen Wangen…

Christina Egan © 2017

The woman or man surrounded by frost, fog, and snow dreams of a future where she or he will kiss white roses and be caressed by oleander… The encounter with the plants is envisaged like an assignation behind a tree, an olive-tree as a symbol of the Mediterranean region.

Photograph: Christina Egan ©2017.

Nachruf auf einen Gärtner

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Nachruf auf einen Gärtner

Photo of walnuts
Photograph: Gokhan Tek via Pixabay.

Abertausend goldne Nüsse
trug der weite Walnussbaum,
warf sie kraftvoll und gelassen
an den Schuppen, an den Zaun.

Abertausend süße Bissen
brachte er aus sich hervor,
zu bescheiden, um zu wissen,
was die Welt an ihm verlor.

Christina Egan ©2020

Title page of calendar: white windmill against blue sky.

This poem was written for my uncle, who was a professional and passionate gardener.

It is published in the calendar, Münsterschwarzacher Bildkalender 2024 (circulation 80,000) with the photo above.

Three Weeds

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Three Weeds

(August Tanka)

Small flowering weed coming out of a crack between concrete surfaces.I.

Tall weed in the crack,
its flowers like little suns,
its shadow of ink.
The proud weed and its shadow,
its echo: beauty enough.

II.

Tiny weeds coming out of cracks, with their shadows.Cushion by the path,
tiny purple trefoil leaves
embroidered with stars.
The drought has tinted the green,
drawn up the blood of the earth.

III.

The dandelion
bursting from between the slabs,
Dandelion and other weeds coming out of cracks.yellow, pure yellow.
This brief bright blossom calls out,
clear like brass, like a tuba.

IV.

Three weeds I noticed
finely stitched onto the stone,
shreds of tapestry.
Three weeds I noticed today
and how many did I not?

Christina Egan © 2018

Observations from the great heat and drought of summer 2018. If only we took the time to see, to listen, to feel…

Unplanned addition to the garden. – Photographs: Christina Egan © 2020.

Blue Cloud

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Blue Cloud

Framed by the rubber
of the rolling windows,
the shifting squares
of terraced houses,

the sliding panels
of allotment fences
it appears
again:

a bolt of blue,
the sky in a cloud,
an armful of May –
my cyanothus!

And masked and
unfolding again
and past and
afloat in my eyes…

Christina Egan © 2008

Little tree with bright-blue blossom, next to pink and blue flowers.A tiny light-blue Cyanothus. The one in the poem was a massive tree with almost indigo flowers. I never cease to marvel at the blue blossom. See also Under the Blue Bloom of the Tree.

Photograph: Christina Egan © 2017.

im angesicht der sonne

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

im angesicht der sonne

im angesicht der sonne
steht aufrecht
und einsam
die erste osterglocke

auferstanden
aus der schweren schwarzen erde
freudestrahlend
daß es endlich lichter werde

winterwendend
düftespendend
sich verschwendend
sonnengleich

Christina Egan © 2019

Für Sr. Petra de Resurgente

Huge liturgical book with very large writing and music, richly illuminatedServices for Easter morning: “Sunday of the Resurrection”. —
Photograph: by ignis [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

sonnenschein essen

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

sonnenschein essen

I.

rot-goldnes feuerwerk
dichte garben unablässig:
die hohen wipfel am waldessaum
in der zärtlichen brise

schwarz geäderte kristallkugeln
feingefaserte korallenkegel:
die bäume zwischen den giebeln
gegen den steigenden tagstern

schimmernde rokokoperlen
und leuchtende granate:
die gelben birnen im laub
die roten äpfel im gras

Group of pine-trees directly in front of the sea, the sky framed by their branches.

II.

die welt betrachten
wie ein gemälde
bild um bild um
bild

den sonnenschein essen
wie brot
und das brot
wie ein geschenk

gleichgewicht
von tag und nacht
heute ist
heute

Christina Egan © 2018

Beach at Bansin on Usedom (Baltic Sea). —
 Photograph: Christina Egan © 2017.

Blütenschnee / The Opposite of Snow

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Du bist der Blütenschnee

Du bist der Blütenschnee,
du bist die Blütengischt,
die Blütengalaxie,
die mir das Glück verspricht,
die mir das Glück versprüht,–
die Frühlingssymphonie,
die nimmermehr verblüht…
Du funkelst mehr denn je!

Christina Egan © 2018

The Opposite of Snow

This sweet and heavy blossom,
white with a golden glimmer,
an incandescent glow…
Its sweet and heavy scent,
like gingerbread in summer –
the opposite of snow!

Christina Egan © 2018

The first poem compares blossom to snow, the second declares it the opposite of snow. Both could be a description of a beloved person: delightful or even delicious like gingerbread…

Osterglockenlied

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Bundle of daffodils in front of a wooden fence in bright sunlight.Osterglockenlied

Was soll ich jene jauchzenden Narzissen,
die sich in zartesten Zitronentönen
und vollem Apfelsinenleuchten dehnen,
die mehr als wir vom wahren Leben wissen,
mit meinen leisen Reimen nacherschaffen?
Um unauslöschlich nun sie zu entfachen:
in Flammen, die dem Blatt Papier entspringen
und Freude ringsherum zum Klingen bringen!

Christina Egan © 2015

 

Photograph: Christina Egan © 2017.

Lilac and Lime

~ Christina Egan ~ Leave a comment

Lilac and Lime

Vase with small but very bright flowers, mainly raspberry-pink and lemon-yellow, like fireworks, against turquoise table and turquoise sheet.It is coming at last! With the singing wood
of luminous lutes, with trumpets and drums,
in garments and feathers of lilac and lime,
of honey and rose, with stately stride,
with canter and caper, the pageant of summer
is wending its way and filling the valley
with birds and butterflies, blossom and breeze.

Christina Egan © 2008

Little tree with apple-green leaves in a park in average summerly green

For a German poem about the pageant of summer, see geh aus mein herz.

 

Photographs: Christina Egan © 2013 / © 2014.