Without My Reach
I could have been and should have been
An eagle’s nest upon a hill –
An apple-tree beside a stream –
A lighthouse, fiery and still –
I might have been a misty beach
Absorbing some infinity –
The crescent moon within my reach –
I could have been myself – maybe –
Christina Egan ©2019
identity
Pulling the Curtain Aside
Pulling the Curtain Aside
I.
Am I a character
in a glaring maze,
in a hectic loop
of dreams, of dreams?
Or am I a person
in her skin, her pyjamas,
in her room, on a road
rolling out, rolling out?
II.
Am I a character
in a lengthy play,
crowded, confusing,
with repetitive lines?
Am I abandoned
to alien tongues,
am I exclaiming
into the winds?
Christina Egan ©2024/©2022
No title. René Halkett (1938).
Image with kind permission of
Galerie Klaus Spermann.
In my very vivid, restless, repetitive dreams in my sleep, I often feel like a spectator who gets periodically drawn into the action and cannot escape. I added this experience to the one of feeling like an actor or character on stage rather than a person who decides upon her actions and communications.
Heimkehr nach Köln
Heimkehr nach Köln
Die türmenden Inseln
der Kirchen,
die aschgrauen Schachteln
der Häuser,
die lärmenden Räder
der Plätze –
Geborgen bin ich
im Schoß meiner Stadt,
die mich die Sprache lehrte,
die vergessene Sprache,
die schlichten Gesänge
verschütteten Glücks.
Ein goldenes Antlitz taucht
aus dem bunten Dämmer hervor.
Wer bist du?
Geh nicht fort, Gesicht
ohne Namen, leihe mir
mein Geheimnis heut nacht!
Christina Egan © 1992
—
This poem about homecoming to a big city could refer to a place where someone grew up; or where they lived in the past; or where they may have lived in a former life on earth.
Therefore, the mysterious golden face which is the key to the past could be a late relative; or a lost friend; or else a historical figure. I was thinking of this portrait at the back of Cologne Cathedral.
Photograph: „Grabmal Konrad von Hochstaden Gipsabdruck“ von Elke Wetzig (Elya)
