Grodek

A new translation of Georg Trakl's most famous poem

Georg Trakl (1887-1914) was an Austrian expressionist poet. During his short life he wrote and published numerous poems, many of them in the influential literary magazine Der Brenner. 

The poem I selected is titled Grodek, named after a town in western Ukraine, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, around which multiple battles were fought during the course of World War I, the first of which was witnessed by Trakl in September of 1914. 
As a field apothecary, he wasn't directly involved in the battle. Instead, he had to deal with the aftermath. Conditions were horrific. On trees outside of the tent, hung 13 locals, executed as traitors by the Austrian Army. Inside, he was, alone and without sufficient medical supplies, responsible for almost a hundred wounded men. For two days and nights he worked tirelessly but was unable to provide any meaningful aid. Helplessly, he watched them die in agony. As a result Trakl suffered a nervous breakdown and shortly afterwards attempted to commit suicide, which was prevented by a few comrades. In November of 1914 Trakl died in a military hospital due to an overdose of cocaine.
Grodek is his final poem.



Georg Trakl

Grodek

In the evening the autumn forest sounds
of deadly weapons, golden plains
and blue lakes; above, the sun now rolls
more grimly down, and night embraces
passing warriors, the wild laments
of broken mouths.
Yet silently gathers in the willow grounds,
red clouds, wherein dwells an angry god,
the spilt blood, lunar coolness;
all roads end in putrid black.
Under golden twigs of night and stars
the sister’s shadow staggers through the silent grove,
to greet the heroes’ ghosts, the bleeding skulls;
the fall’s dark flutes sound softly in the reeds.
Oh prouder grief! you brazen altars!
Today the scalding flame of spirit
nurtures a tremendous anguish,
the unborn grandchildren.


    (translation by G.J.W.)



Edit (12th of April, 2025): 
Changed line 10; German original: 
   Alle Straßen münden in schwarze Verwesung.
Previous translation:
   All roads lead to black rot.
New translation:
   All roads end in putrid black.
Note: Really two changes - end in instead of lead to and putrid black instead of black rot. End in, in addition to having a generally more pleasing sound to it, is more fitting with regards to the emotional impact. End in feels more final, oppressive, hopeless; exactly how one imagines Trakl might have felt while writing the poem. In comparison, lead to seems almost hopeful. (The German word "münden" means "to flow into" (as in a river flowing into the sea, though it does work (in everyday usage) for a street "flowing into" another street too; as far as I am aware that would be an unusual thing to say in English (also using the word flow would ruin the verse).)
The other change, putrid black instead of black rot, was made mostly for rhythmic reasons, rot broke the trochee at the end, creating a dissonance, which isn't bad in itself, it could even be desirable, particularly in that location. However, the original doesn't feature such a dissonance, though there is a switch from a trochaic construction to dactyls in the middle of the verse, though that makes the latter part sound even more elegant (which is such a Trakl thing to do, really). Using putrid black at least let's me keep the trochee throughout. It must be said however, that putrid black changes the original word order and has a slightly different meaning, but I think the image it evokes is rather more powerful in its oppression and despair, particular in combination with end in.