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Todtnauberg

Arnika, Augentrost, der
Trunk aus dem Brunnen mit dem
Sternwurfel drauf
,

in der
Hütte,

die in das Buch
—wessen Namen nahms auf
vor dem meinen?—,
die in dies Buch
geschriebene Zeile von
einer Hoffnung, heute,
auf eines Denkenden
kommendes
Wort
im Herzen,

Waldwasen, uneingeebnet,
Orchis and Orchis, einzeln,

Krudes, später, im Fahren,
deutlich,

der uns fährt, der Mensch,
der's mi anhört,

die halb-
beschrittenen Knüppel-
pfade im Hochmoor,

Feuchtes,
viel.

Arnica, eyebright, the
draft from the well with the
star-die on top,

in the
hütte,

written in the book
—whose name did it record
before mine—?
in this book
the line about
a hope, today,
for a thinker's
word
to come
in the heart,

forest sward, unleveled,
orchis and orchis, singly,

crudeness, later, while driving,
clearly,

he who drives us, the man,
he who also hears it,

the half-
trod log-
trails on the highmoor,

humidity,
much.

—Paul Celan (1920-1970)

Translated from the German by Pierre Joris


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