Die Bäume von Bansin
Buchen überm Strand,
zwischen den Stämmen Dämmer,
wie Orgelpfeifen.
Als spielte der Himmel auf,
um die See zu begleiten.
*
Reich bestirnte Nacht,
funkelnde schwarze Seide,
Vorhang des Himmels.
Die Fichten ragen, schweigen.
Auch das Herz schweigt und funkelt.
*
Knorrige Äste
offener Kiefernkronen
im salzigen Wind…
Tausend Meilen reise ich
für die Bäume von Bansin.
Christina Egan ©2019
The Keystone of the Sky
When you see the sea-gull rising
From the glowing sand and sea
Through the narrow iron railings
Of your room and balcony
When you see the sea-gull soaring
From the far end of the quay
At the far end of the island:
Know that you will soon be free
When you see the sea-gull floating
Like the keystone of the sky
Like the king of land and ocean:
Know that you will rise as high
You will cross the glassy water
On a warm auspicious wind
You will sparkle like the crescent
Risen from the ocean’s rim
When you see the sea-gull rising
From the glowing sand and sea
Let your heart be lifted with it:
Know that you will soon be free
Christina Egan ©2013
>>> Waiting to be set to music!
Mer de miel
(Sète)
Levez vos yeux vers ce vitrail doré,
d’un jaune plus doux, d’un jaune plus pâle possible :
une baie cernée de hauts rochers
d’un bleu brumeux… Un crépuscule paisible.
Clignez vos yeux à ce vitrail distant,
mer de miel, montagne mauve, sauvage :
tout flotte au dessus de l’horizon –
des eaux de feu, une terre de nuages !
Ce paysage d’un or incomparable
s’évanouit et passe, une image…
Ou serait ça la côte impérissable
et notre terre et mer le grand mirage ?
Christina Egan © 2016
This poem takes up an idea from ancient pagan and Christian philosophy: our world may be only a pale reflexion of a higher, perfect, world. Those ‘heavens’, however, are an inaccessible and unimaginable place — beyond our universe — for which the visible sky is only an image.
The fiery sunset which took me quite literally ‘out of this world’ occurred in midwinter on one of the northernmost beaches of the Mediterranean, at the outskirts of Sète. For a daytime poem and photograph on the sea around Sète, see La Mer, enfin.
Photographs: The sky above the coast in Sète, France. Christina Egan © 2016
