Auf dem Purpurteppich der Musik
Auf dem Purpurteppich der Musik,
dichtbepflanzt mit immergoldnen Ranken
und mit himmelfarbner Saat bestickt,
flieg’ ich ohne Angst und ohne Schranken!
Denn der Purpurteppich der Musik
trägt uns mächtiger als die Gedanken
über Wogen, Wolken und zurück,
löst uns Leib wie Geist von allen Banden…
Christina Egan © 2014
On the Royal Purple Rug of Music
On the royal purple rug of music,
thick with tendrils, ever-golden, high,
strewn with seeds the colour of the sky,
limitlessly, fearlessly, I fly!
For the royal purple rug of music
raises us, more powerful than thought,
carries us away, aloft, abroad,
frees both mind and body, frail and fraught…
Christina Egan © 2017
You can find another poem about the incomparable power of music at Quest / Suche (in English and German). Music is not disembodied; it is palpable and all-pervading.
When I described music as a flying carpet, I was thinking of the deep red of oriental rugs, which in German is called ‘purple’; but the English idea of a lilac ‘purple’ is also very appropriate for music.
Photographs: Passionflower with bee; Passionflower with fruit; colours inverted. Christina Egan © 2016.
Christina Egan 