Amorous Morning
even
before waking up—; morning
in
the symbol of the bewitching zephyr.
The
seagull procession
of
fortunate arabesques in the clearest sky,
Dianas
waving
from every balcony.
IN:
Poplar crowns, the damp landscapes—
OUT:
Luster of tiles and that trembling
Venus—
BREATH:
Stallions with jangling coins,
the
fig market and the tiny violets in the milky
shade
of the forest,
mosque—and
no end—O hour,
the
princess awaits
the
opium goat!
*
The
time has come: the leaves flicker
and
above her hair
occasional
hands dangle chestnuts.
The
sound of splashing rises prettily around Ruhstatt;
horn,
spear and booty surround us—, wine presses,
equipment
for the harvest, grape-voices
extorted
between flying hearts.
Skins
too, pelts
hot
from sun and corn. The circling and undulating
and
whimpering of the eyelid
and
lips: you—
Farewell
That waving of
some kind of hurtling
machine, and
then
the landscape
dries up. The houses
crumble into
the rubble of bubbling
chalk and the end
gnashes its
poison tooth
between tracks.
“Never again
that refuge under chattering
leaves; never
again the ladybugs’ raining
heart; and
certainly never
that mesh of
rays
on the breast’s
flower-pillows—never!”
O Ragusa! Become
that smoggy sulfur city—
The south sea
dosed in kerosene and everything
burning! Your
cloudy seconds,
take them—, devour
the bright
poison of these bites—after you
have mummified
yourself
in the
sarcophagus of forgetting …
translated from the German by Marc Vincenz
Alexander Xaver Gwerder was born in 1923 to a Swiss working-class
family and began writing poems when he was sixteen years old. In 1949, a
few of Alexander’s poems were published in the Zurich newspaper, Die Tat. His talents were recognized by a handful of Swiss editors.Gwerder committed suicide in Arles, France in 14. September 1952.
Most of Gwerder’s work was published posthumously. He was clearly influenced by Gottfried Benn and Rainer Maria Rilke. Gwerder’s poems are highly imagistic, written in a rhythmical language and infused with the Swiss dialect of his childhood. Gwerder was highly critical of the bourgeoisie and the conservative institutions of Swiss government and the military. During his lifetime he was a complete outsider to the Swiss literary establishment and little-acknowledged for his poignant and stirring visions. It was only 45 years after his tragic death that Gwerder’s collected and uncollected poems were released in German, and his extraordinary talent finally brought to critical attention.
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