Light & Dragonflies: Nature Poems/Love Poems - 16. Looking for stars

I read this several times, and each reading sounded different in my head. It’s a rare and wonderful poem that lets a subtle change in emphasis or accent change what one thinks the poet is saying. This is a gem. 

5 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

I read this several times, and each reading sounded different in my head. It’s a rare and wonderful poem that lets a subtle change in emphasis or accent change what one thinks the poet is saying. This is a gem. 

Thanks, Parker. I think this is one of my favorite Runge poems from the collection 

Really love this.

11 hours ago, chris191070 said:

Really love this.

Thank you, Chris. I see this poem, like some before, as a weary soldier-poet reaching out to touch innocence fleeing the ravages of war

I agree with @Parker Owens.  Each time I read this the images are different in my brain.  So many different images was the reason for my "Wow" icon on the story.  There are many ways to read this..

I also ran this poem through the two main translation programs of which I am aware, and your translation is very readable.  Of G's translation and B's translation, G was closer to you on the first part, and B closer on the second part.  Your translation is very understandable.

Well done.

22 hours ago, ReaderPaul said:

I agree with @Parker Owens.  Each time I read this the images are different in my brain.  So many different images was the reason for my "Wow" icon on the story.  There are many ways to read this..

I also ran this poem through the two main translation programs of which I am aware, and your translation is very readable.  Of G's translation and B's translation, G was closer to you on the first part, and B closer on the second part.  Your translation is very understandable.

Well done.

Thanks, ReaderPaul. I'm not comfortable being put up against machines, especially not against ones pre-programmed to be homophobic,* and I guess I should have advised this earlier, but with poetry, you must feed it to the bots in sentence form. So, the above

Blut schürzt lässig

lose winkt die Wange

Seele sinkt erschrocken in die Knie

Mund springt drüber

stolpernd

stürzt das Lachen

Weinen streichelt das zerzauste Kind

und die Sehnsucht durch der Augen Staub

tastet ihrer Stirne Sternen nach

Should be pasted as:

Blut schürzt lässig lose winkt die Wange

Seele sinkt erschrocken in die Knie Mund springt drüber stolpernd stürzt das Lachen

Weinen streichelt das zerzauste Kind und die Sehnsucht durch der Augen Staub tastet ihrer Stirne Sternen nach

You should see a lot of the translation site's 'lost in translation' moments diminish when you do this way.

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*If you read my translation of the Victor Hugo novella, you will know the author's unambiguous phrase of "Claude loved Albin very much" is consistently censored by the online translation sites as "Claude was very fond of Albin." However, using a male and female name in the exact same sentence magically produces "love" -- but two men can only "like" according to the haters who programed discrimination into their machines in the 21st century. I'm sick of it  

Victor Hugo's "Claude Gueux"

https://gayauthors.org/story/ac-benus/the-great-mirror-of-same-sex-love-prose/92