Ingeborg Bachmann
Gedichte 1945-1956

Ingeborg Bachmann
The Collected Poems
Poems 1945-1956
The night unfolds the sad part of the face.
Inside a shadow I sing the word
that the light steals from me each day.
I sing
and will not be silent,
a clap of thunder strikes somewhere,
landing me at the base of the temple,
blood and life now darkened.

I sing like the lawless sing!
Above the pebbles and stones!
The reins have long since been lost.
The galloping notes of the riders rankle
me like a servant bothers a lord.
The unfettered notes convey
freedom
as the boldest thoughts
have never done.

The sad part of the face of night
echoes gunfire and hunting.
I break into song.
I spring up the marble steps
which before the temple petrify
one into silence and eternal service.
I sing
and cannot yet be silent.
Frozen stiff up to my song-ridden throat,
I still sing the word
that until now the light stole away.

transl. by Peter Filkins