Mediterranean Landscapes

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.

Vision (In den Augen den Mittag)

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Vision

Woman leaning on a sandstone wall, looking out on green fields and blue ocean, her blond hair lifted by the wind.In den Augen den Mittag,
den Mittelmeermittag –
In den Haaren die Nacht,
braunsamtene Nacht –

In den Augen die Sonne,
im Wellenspiel glitzernd –
In den Haaren den Wind,
wildseidenen Wind –

Christina Egan © 2014

A luminous winter day on a Mediterranean island… or rather, the beginning of a lush spring as early as February. – Photograph: Christina Egan © 2018.

Gegenwart (Wie Kalksteinhügel)

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Gegenwart

Wie Kalksteinhügel liegen deine Wangen
und deine Haare wie ein Pinienwald.
Schon zittert meine Seele vor Verlangen
nach deiner bloß erratenen Gestalt.

Ein dunkler Doppelsee sind deine Augen,
noch beinah unberührt und unergründlich.
Ob sie auch meine Zukunft in sich bergen,
ist beinah ungedacht und unerfindlich.

Und wie das warme Meer rollt deine Stimme,
wenn sich orangerot der Tagstern neigt…
O schautest du nur auf und hieltest inne –
und würdest niemals bloß Vergangenheit!

Christina Egan © 2014

Dusk by the sea: glow of sunset amongst dark clouds and on waves lapping onto the shore.

Description of a new acquaintance in terms of a Mediterranean landscape.

The title plays on the double meaning of the German word “presence” / “present”: the speaker is mesmerised by the other person and already has a faint hope that he or she will become the future… and never slide back into the past.

Sunset on a Mediterranean shore in January. – Photograph: Christina Egan © 2016.

Orange and Turquoise (Crete)

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Orange and Turquoise
(Crete)

Fresco of red crocuses on orange ground near blue water.orange and amber
the southern soil
like fresh fruit
like lush flesh

turquoise and azure
the sun-steeped sea
like human eyes
like human souls

Christina Egan © 2012

orangerot und türkis
(Kreta)

Flourishes on a mural, turquoise on luminous red and yelloorangerot
und ocker loht
die stille bucht
wie fleisch und frucht

türkis azur
der wellentanz
wie augenglanz
und aurenspur

Christina Egan © 2016

 

Decorative paper, light-blue with ripples in yellow, red, white, green.A reddish orange and a greenish blue are complementary colours and will therefore be more striking in combination. 

In the Mediterranean, strong light and heat prevail even in late September.

I found this beach at the edge of the five-thousand-year-old town of Chania on Crete.

You can read more about the bright blue and green sea in Kretische Küste and about the reddish soil in The Dittany of Crete.

Murals in the royal palace at Knossos, Crete.
Watercolour of crocuses by Arthur J. Evans: Photograph provided by Digital Bodleian Library under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Photograph of spirals: Harrieta171 via Wikimedia.

Decorative paper. Photograph provided by British Library through Flickr .

Tabucchis Blau

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Tabucchis Blau

hochsommerhimmel
über Lissabons hügeln

so blau daß es beinahe beißt
so schön daß es beinahe schmerzt

und vor der gleißenden steilen
vielfach verschachtelten stadt

ruft mit demselben trunknen blau
die bucht dir unbeirrbar zu:

du stehst immer am anfang
einer entdeckungsfahrt!

Christina Egan © 2012

Artistic impression of Mediterranean village on steep coast; landscape in orange, sea in blue, village in white

„con… il sole che splendeva, e con una città che scintillava, letteralmente scintillava sotto la sua finestra, e un azzurro, un azzurro mai visto, sostiene Pereira, di un nitore che quasi feriva gli occhi…”

Antonio Tabucchi, Sostiene Pereira

Antonio Tabucchi (1943-2012) loved Lisbon and lived there. I wrote this poem for him when he died: his last voyage would be the one to another, even more beautiful world. The last line can, however, be interpreted in many other ways.

Illustration: “Elba — Land der Esel” by Ottilie Ehlers-Kollwitz (1955). With kind permission of Galerie Klaus Spermann.

Die Wege von Malta

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Die Wege von Malta

Über das zerrissene
blütensprühende Gestein
legt sich das zerschlissene
Fischernetz im Sonnenschein:
Eselswege, Autostraßen,
steil und krumm und oftgeflickt,
Klosterhöfe, Promenaden,
salzbehaucht und dufterquickt.

Netz von Stiegen, Steigen, Pfaden
wandelt flugs ein Wolkenbruch
zu Kanälen und Kaskaden,
füllt die ausgedörrte Schlucht,
tränkt die berstendgrünen Triften,
häuft den sonnengoldnen Sand,
formt den Lehm der stolzen Küsten,
höhlt die wilde Felsenwand…

Christina Egan © 2018

Small bays of limpid turquoise water, golden rock and sand, fresh green slopes.

A golden and green impression of Malta Island in February —
glorious spring! — Photograph: Christina Egan © 2018.

La table jaune

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La table jaune

La table jaune limpide,
couleur de tournesol,
Table surface of bright yellow mosaic, with café chairs on the grass, sunlit.m’invite dans l’oasis
au cœur des plaines arides,
parmi palmiers et roses
en fleur sans fin, sans pause :
il met l’esprit au vol
vers les sommets saphir,
vers le soleil couchant,
mais fort même au nadir…

La table tournesol
est un tapis volant !
Mais il me manque le mot
qui le transforme, le pose
carrément aux epaules
des vents comme un radeau…
Ô table jaune et rouge,
écoute-moi et bouge,
transporte-moi aux flots
de l’air vers l’horizon !

Christina Egan © 2016

The yellow table in the oasis becomes a flying carpet: it lifts the mind up towards the high mountains. Yet, to lift the body up also, it requires a password, and we do not have it!

The rose garden is set in a country where the sun is strong even towards evening or in midwinter, and where roses are always in blossom in abundance: I found it in Morocco.

Photograph: Roadside café in Morocco in midwinter. Christina Egan © 2012.

 

The Eagle’s Outpost

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The Eagle’s Outpost

Gently, I lay my hand upon a stone:
it snuggles up to my pulsating palm.
The last time it enjoyed the sun god’s balm,
he gilded nimble chariots of Rome,
and legionnaires patrolled the city walls
above the river of a thousand miles,
while olives, dates and spices glowed in piles
and glittering fabrics flowed from shaded stalls.
The halls were fashioned of a thousand stones;
so were the roads rolled out to many lands;
and all were laid by many thousand hands…
This eagle’s outpost held ten thousand souls –
A dream of dreams, lifted into the light:
I was in Dura Europos last night.

Christina Egan © 2018

Runis of fortress on hilltop in arid land, above wide river with green fields.

The ruins of Dura Europos above the Euphrates, today in Syria, in 2016.
Photograph by Marina Milella [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

 

After 500 poems, the usual poem about a Roman Road to start the year!

 

Oasis (Marrakesh)

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Oasis
(Marrakesh)

All these proud palm-trees,
a thousand and one, now bow
before your beauty.

*

A road of roses,
an avenue fit for a king –
just right for you.

*

Desert dust reaches
for your ankles of marble,
envied by my hands.

*

Christina Egan © 2016

Orange tree full of fruit and rose tree with large roses in front of high pink wallsThis is actually a set of winter poems: Morocco in midwinter is like northern Europe in midsummer! Marrakesh welcomes you with warm sunshine, thousands of palm-trees and tens of thousands of roses in all colours… Around the city, wherever the ancient irrigation system does not reach, the land stretches dry and dusty.

Photograph: Orange-trees and rose-trees within the rose-coloured walls of Marrakesh. Christina Egan © 2012

La Mer, enfin

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La Mer, enfin
(Cimetière marin, Sète)

Ô vagues de vers sincères et idolâtres…
Ce vaste pan de verre d’un vert bleuâtre
Entre cieux et ombres suspendu,
Et cet essaim neigeux de tombes en marbre
Parmi les flammes géantes noires des arbres :
La Mer, enfin. J’ai vu et j’ai vécu.

Ces fleurs en bas, comme lèvres entrouvertes,
Impérissables certes, mais inertes,
Moulues de cet argile du Midi ;
Ces fleurs en haut, rosées et scintillantes,
Ces tressaillantes et minces, mais vivantes !
Le Cimetière. J’ai vu et j’ai écrit.

Christina Egan © 2016

Light-blue sky and light-green ocean in the background, white tombs in the foregrund; in the front, a flat marble slabs decorated with two large pink flowers, one in clay and one in plastic.

 

Paul Valéry’s tomb on the Cimetière marin, which has become famous through his poem. It is shown and played all day in the neighbouring art museum erected as a homage to him.

These lines are closely related to Valéry’s. The durable but lifeless flowers are of clay and plastic; the perishable but living ones blossom on the bushes around. My picture and poem were created in early January!

An automatic translation into English may convey the meaning of  my French homage to Valéry quite well — but not the music of the words!

Photograph: Christina Egan © 2016