Tepid Tides
Amongst the jungle on the isle’s edge
the tepid tides have carved a golden heart
of salt
and rock –
Just so, your voice’s limpid surf has etched
into my soul a secret golden mark
so – drop –
by drop –
Christina Egan ©2023
***
A poem for
Valentine’s Day!
It sounds like a very long relationship…
Inspired by a postcard of a heart-shaped island.
The Purple Grape
The purple grape,
soaked with a whole summer,
bears more than sweetness in it:
secret sparks
which will burst on your tongue,
which will rise like fire
to your temples, your wrists.
The purple grape’s flesh,
crushed, filtered, fermented,
harbours a truth,
a dark and dense
and undiscovered truth,
a relentless ruler.
Find dreams flipping over
into life, find sun
running through your veins,
find the more
you were made for.
Christina Egan © 2006
Mond und Morgenstern
Du könntest den Mond berühren,
den Mond und den Morgenstern.
Ich harre an offenen Türen;
du schaust nur herüber von fern.
Versäumst du die kostbare Stunde
des herbstlichen Sternschnuppenfalls?
Ich stehe mit bebendem Munde,
als seist du die Mitte des Alls.
Ich möchte dir näher begegnen,
bevor uns der Sommer entsinkt,
anstatt eine Hand zu segnen,
die nur im Vorübergehn winkt.
Ich sah, daß in deinen Augen
verlorenes Mondlicht liegt.
Ich möchte so gern an dich glauben…
Ich hätte dich gerne geliebt.
Christina Egan © 2018
Green Lagoon
(Lanzarote)
Down the cauldron of the mountains,
on an island like a moon,
down the sooty, rusty hollows,
you will find the green lagoon
where your destiny is brewing,
where new dreams are bubbling up,
where the sky is pure and glowing,
where the earth is fresh and hot!
Christina Egan © 2015
Crater Lakes
Afar, I’ve seen the keen and tranquil green
of crater lakes, like mirrors of my dream…
And now I turn to look into your eyes
and find the same mysterious silver gleam
and realise my dream’s materialised.
Love happens, blossoms, thrives – and never dies.
Christina Egan © 2011
Please also note my poems about the green crater lakes at Kaali, Estonia (Der Erde Auge) and at Sete Cidades, Azores (Sonett der drei Seen).
Green Lagoon, El Golfo, Lanzarote. Photograph: Justraveling.
I’ve Caught a Star
I’ve caught a star
and hold it tight,
it warms my heart,
it fills the night.
Yours is a kiss
as none before,
I know I need
now nothing more.
You are all men
and women, too,
the town, the land,
the earth are you.
You are the sun,
the sparkling day,
the magic moon,
the milky way.
You are the zest
upon my lip,
the only smile
that will unzip,
the only hand
that will hand back
each grain of corn,
each drop of sap.
Christina Egan © 2003
Mild Christmas Eve
My heavy gate to heaven
has got a secret crack,
and sometimes sunlike flashes
steal through the sudden gap.
There are no stars this Christmas
but those in your sweet face,
no snow and sparkling crystals
but those in your embrace.
You are my splendid banquet,
you are the birth of mirth,
you’ll be my earth in heaven –
my heaven here on earth.
Christina Egan © 2004
Photograph by Gabriel Pollard [CC BY-SA 2.5].
Featured picture on Wikimedia Commons.
Remember November
Eight times the leaves have paled,
been plucked and swept away,
eight times the sun has waned
and steeped the days in grey;
eight times the loom of spring
has woven rainbow rugs,
eight times made blackbirds sing
between the bursting buds;
eight times the fruit has swelled
and, in its turn, the fog,
eight times the frost has quelled
the sap’s impatient throb –
Eight years my heart has found
its breath and path in you;
eight years it’s watched your mouth
for words as warm as true.
Christina Egan © 2005
This anniversary poem goes through the seasons, with a focus on autumn. You could change the title and the number of years if you want it for your own anniversary, perhaps even swap the lines, starting with spring.
zerküssen
ich wasche
mir den tag
aus den augen
und auch den traum
um dich zu erkennen
um dich zu erkunden
wie du wirklich
bist
um den letzten abstand
zwischen du und du
zu ermessen
zu zerküssen
Christina Egan © 1990
The title, something like “kissing away” or “kissing apart” encapsules the message: I invented the word to describe the act of kissing as cancelling the distance between two people.
Photograph: Christina Egan © 2020.
Strandkorb Song
What happened to the beach-seat
we found in Germany,
the bench within a basket
beside the Baltic Sea?
The land was lush and sunlit,
the air was pure and free,
the dusk was full of magic,
the surf a mystery.
What happened to the beach-seat
placed there for you and me?
What happened to the footsteps
along the singing sea?
You said you won’t forget it,
the dusk, the moon, and me.
Where has it gone, the moment
of blue eternity?
We cannot leave the basket,
in space and time so far:
it is a secret casket
which holds a sparkling star.
Christina Egan © 2017
‘Beach baskets’ in Ahlbeck on Usedom.
Photograph: Christina Egan © 2017.
Strandkörbe, ‘beach baskets’, or hooded beach seats, are an alluring feature of German beaches on both seas.
The story refers to the Midsummernight Far North I have described before on this website. I have developed Strandkorb Song further as lyrics.
Hidden Rivers
This is the time to walk along
the hidden rivers hand in hand;
this is the time to write a song
out of a strangely quiet land.
This is the time to breathe again,
to stand and stare, to skip and run…
The water rippled by the rain,
the water dappled by the sun.
This is the time to dance across
the sea of sorrel and of yarrow,
to sink into the gilded grass
without a worry of tomorrow.
This is the time to hear the heart
of the neglected earth rejoice,
to find the long-forgotten lark
in your beloved’s humming voice.
Christina Egan © 2020
Verborgne Flüsse
Dies ist die Zeit, das Tal zu sichten
verborgner Flüsse, Hand in Hand;
dies ist die Zeit, ein Lied zu dichten
aus einem seltsam stillen Land.
Dies ist die Zeit, die Brust zu heben,
zu springen, stillzustehn, zu spürn…
Gewellt das Wasser unterm Regen,
beglänzt das Wasser vom Gestirn.
Durch Wogen weißer Blütenschäume
und roter Rispen laß uns schreiten,
um sorglos in der späten Wärme
ins sonnengoldne Gras zu gleiten.
Das Herz der unbetretnen Erde
scheint jubelnd dir ins Ohr zu dringen,
das Lied der fastvergeßnen Lerche
aus dem geliebten Mund zu klingen.
Christina Egan © 2020
A happy impression from the coronavirus crisis…
Photograph: Lea Valley. Christina Egan © 2020.
Christina Egan 