Georg Trakl: Lament II
A new translation of one of Georg Trakl's last poems
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. Today’s poem is originally titled Klage (II, because he wrote another poem with the same title). He wrote it around the same time as Grodek, and under much the same impressions, though he didn’t explicitly mention anything related to WWI or the battle he witnessed. Lament II is much more metaphorical and mysterious. It aims not at understanding in a logical way, but straight for the subconscious, emotional core. Enjoy!
Georg Trakl Lament Sleep and death, those dreary eagles bluster ‘round this head all night: man’s golden image swallowed by the icy wave of eternity. On eerie reefs the crimson body shatters and a dark voice wails over the sea. Tempestuous dejections’ sister, look an angsty barge goes down below stars, the silent visage of the night. (translated by G.J.W.) Note: Tried something new for the picture this time (there aren't that many photos of Trakl) and just fed Midjourney the entire poem as a prompt.
Oh very nice voiceover. Thanks for the timeline on this, I was wondering when he would have wrote this. Even though he doesn't mention the war you can almost hear it still.