O Land of Ice and Fire

Vigil (Du bist die Hand / Your Distant Hand)

Vigil (V)

Du bist die Hand, die mein Gebetbuch hält
in aller Frühe, wenn die laute Welt
noch schlummert wie ein müdgetobtes Kind
und wir die Stimme ihrer Träume sind.
Wir sind der Psalm, der aus der Erde steigt,
wenn Nachtwind noch die Wiesenblumen neigt,
das erste Wechsellied im Weizenfeld…
Du bist die Hand, die mein Gebetbuch hält.

Christina Egan ©1990

Huge liturgical book with very large writing and music, richly illuminated

Vigil (V)

At dawn, the noisy and unruly world,
just like a tired child, has not yet stirred.
We are the voice of all its dreams: we stand,
my hymnal lifted by your distant hand.
We are the psalm arising from the earth
while night wind is still bending blooming herbs.
We are the chant across the ripening land…
My hymnal lifted by your distant hand.

Christina Egan ©2018

These lines describe the early-morning prayer of Christian monks and nuns: standing up and bowing, chanting and responding to each other… They also imagine an invisible connection between two of them — good friends perhaps, close relatives, or former lovers — who feel that they are praying together across the distance between them.

Photograph: By ignis – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Die Spur des Mars / The Trace of Mars

Die Spur des Mars

Unbeirrbar rollt die Straße,
über Hügel, über Flüsse
schnurgerade hingebreitet
wie ein Strahl vom flammendroten
goldstückgroßen Himmelsboten:
Mars hat Rom hierhergeleitet.

Christina Egan ©2020

As ever, the first poem of the year admires the roads of the Romans. At Cassel in the north of France, you can see them radiate from a hill and run entirely straight, regardless of the landscape. They served very well to transport people, goods, and ideas, but were first of all laid to occupy and exploit regions. Mars in the poem above stands for war and aggression but also for courage and strength.

glanztanzend / dazzle-dancing

A handful of hand-crafted Christmas cards in different styles and colours.
A handful of hand-crafted Christmas cards in different styles and colours.

The poem does what it describes: inventing words, lining them up, and sending them to others to greet them and cheer them up!

The newly coined terms had to be re-created in English – where they do of course not look as impressive. “lindwurmwörter”, for instance, really sounds and looks as long as a dragon, while “dragon’s tail words” looks like three words, even though I added the tail in to get a similar effect in meaning and length.

In England, many people hang Christmas cards up on golden strings. During the festive seasons of 2022/23 and 2023/24, I crafted many greeting cards myself, each of them unique.

Seasonal greeting cards. Artwork: Christina Egan ©2022/©2023/©2024. Photographs: Miriam Hornsby ©2024.

Von stählernen Waben (Wortbild)

Visual poem of the text Von gläsernen Waben. The words are typed up into a grid with large hollows, like buildings with yards. Some words are located in these spaces, like people walking about. In the centre, the words “Du” (You) and “Ich” (“I”).

Visual poem developed from the text Von stählernen Waben (see below). Christina Egan ©2024.

For the English text version and links to similar poems, see When Webs of Steel / Von stählernen Waben.

For the English visual version and for a related word cloud, see the previous post, Webs of Steel (Visual Poetry).

When Webs of Steel (Visual poetry)

Visual poem of: https://eganpoet.net/2015/12/11/when-webs-of-steel/. The worda are tped up into two squares, with some in the middle, like a person walking about in the yard of a building.
Word cloud on black, most words pale, some words glaring. In the middle, "glass", "steel", "doors", "sun".


Visual poem developed from the text When webs of steel (see below). Christina Egan ©2024.
Word cloud Steel & Glass of twelve English poems about big cities on this website. Christina Egan ©2024.

Visual poem typed up on a Word document. Word cloud designed on Simple Word Cloud Generator.
For the German version and links to similar poems, see When Webs of Steel / Von stählernen Waben.
For the inspiration for the design of the word cloud, see Glass Mountain (Potsdamer Platz).

When Webs of Steel

When webs of steel and walls of glass
confine you to a square of grass –

stand still and feel your sap pulsate:
You have a face. You have a fate.


When no one listens, no one knows you,
when no one loves you or else shows you,
take a deep breath – take two – take cheer:
I know, across the seas. I’m here.


Christina Egan © 2009

Apfeltraum / Apple-dream

Pink book cover with romantic painting of couple under large apple tree in blossom.om.

Grün und gülden / Green and Golden

Ancient metal disk, deep green, showing golden celestial bodies.

Grün und gülden

Auf der weiten Erdenscheibe
kauert meine kleine Bleibe
still in pfauenblauer Nacht;
und aus ungeheurer Ferne
steigen unzählbare Sterne
wie von Zauberhand entfacht.


Auf den unsichtbaren Gleisen
durch den Weltraum aber kreisen
zwei Gestirne um mein Dach:
Glück muß mir das güldne schreiben,
doch das grüne bringt mir Leiden,–
zwei verflochten tausendfach.


Christina Egan ©2017

Moon with many craters, brownish and brightly lit.

A New Poem is Being Born

Snow, Slow / Schnee, langsam

Patio with some plants at far end covered in thick fresh snow.Snow, Slow
(Christmas Haiku)

Snow, slow, abundant,
covering the sleek black soil
like icing-sugar.

*

Flames of real candles
in the darkened room, like stars
visiting the earth.

*

Tinsel billowing
on the fir-twigs, as if stirred
by an angel’s wing.

***

Schnee, langsam
(Weihnachtshaiku)

Schnee, langsam, reichlich,
fällt auf blanke schwarze Erde…
wie Zuckerstaub.

*

Wachskerzenflammen
im Dämmer… wie Sterne,
herniedergestiegen.

*

Lametta flattert
an Zweigen… wie angerührt
von Engelsflügeln.

 Christina Egan © 2017

 

Real candles, even made of beeswax, are still common on Christmas trees in Germany, and lametta is used more sparingly and usually silver, reminiscent of snow.

Thick snow is nowadays a rare phenomenon in England… Note the tiny Christmas tree taken out after the festive days (and later planted into the soil!). – Photograph: Christina Egan © 2018.