Long Assayed Poems

These are modern English translations of poems by the German poets  Ingeborg Bachmann, H. Distler and Johann Georg Jacobi.



“Song”
by Johann Georg Jacobi
translation by Michael R. Burch

Friend, tell me where the violet fled,
so lately gaily...

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Though the starry eyed corona sporting sun dance 
cosmic phenomena (stealthily slated to describe mid expanse
night during broad daylight), this astronomical event common at a glance. 

Said Hal lens neigh saying Trojan Horse 
 ...

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Fields where the bondman’s toil
No more shall trench the soil,
Seem now to bask in a serener day;
The meadow-birds sing sweeter, and the airs 
Of heaven with more caressing softness play,
Welcoming man to liberty like theirs.
A...

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Urban Sonnet

Is it so hard to say the things you feel?
Why seal up thoughts in words that beg for truth?
I braced myself to read a languid spiel
and first assayed to read it as a youth.
When...

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In the spring of 1880 young Clifford Griffin immigrated from England to Colorado.
The death of his fiancee left him bereft and he was searchin' for his El Dorado.
He settled in Silver Plume where he and...

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Athwart Without Surcease — Edzel

Erelong the sphere was contrived,
intrinsically safe with His arms.
Born— soon derived,
and molded from His heart so warm.

Fain to live,
hight to be a no man in an island.
Sith ere He do forgive,
our...

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If I only could see that which is beyond the pale of the limitation of 
The complexity with which things espial are thus espied.
If the round pasty pastry-
Complete with its rind of crispy, golden-brown, flaky...

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The birch’s leaves seem to glow silver in sun’s light
While the trunk is ghostly white
The tree makes for nostalgic sight
But its beauty dazzles with delight

The willows crown is like liquid sunshine gold
When it tells ballads...

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I wonder the words to pen here,
Once I said you those three words
And you assayed a story thereafter.
Few letters were found brushed off
Few were found bedded with dusts
Leaving rest of the pages tore apart
Where the...

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The river is at autumnal peace
The spring runoff months long past.
The sun has mellowed, shrinking shadows.
Birds that once graced this glade
Have assayed the air and arched the horizon.
There is a gentleness in grass and tree—
A...

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Words from within, driven by their desire,
To free themselves from the cage they're kept.
Neither cold, direct or burning fire.
They need to be linked by fluid concept.

I have no words of wisdom to give.
As all far...

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Little did I know you were to take me.
Over and over I did fall. And never relenting.
Verse after verse I wrote to your admiration.
Everything I saw was inspiration towards you.

Last week, I got your letter...

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First time thou opened thy eyes, 
thou started to cry,
First time thou stood on thy feet,
Fell on clay, when assayed to fleet,
Thou first day of the school,
Sojourned puling on the stool,
First ever exam of thy...

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