Translation Trashbin - 55. Meinem Vater in Wahlverwandtschaft

Beautiful and very powerful.

The first part of this reminds me of our growing population crowding on planet Earth.  Yet there are still places to go and learn and explore.

The last part gives hope of improving relationships in the world, as I see it, yet there is an intensely personal aspect I am still pondering.

Intensely provoking of thought.

1 hour ago, chris191070 said:

Beautiful and very powerful.

Thank you, Chris. This poem blew me away -- 1902! Nothing like this in English could have been published before the late 1960s

39 minutes ago, ReaderPaul said:

The first part of this reminds me of our growing population crowding on planet Earth.  Yet there are still places to go and learn and explore.

The last part gives hope of improving relationships in the world, as I see it, yet there is an intensely personal aspect I am still pondering.

Intensely provoking of thought.

Thanks, ReaderPaul. I don't know how to interpret Baums' poem in anything but a Queer context. There are more overtones of "crime" and "liberation" in the original than I'm able to capture in the poet's line lengths, but it's clear Wahlverwandtschaft relates to one's chosen family, and unter der Erde means "underground" in the same sense of a secret/abused/hidden/persecuted community (just as it does in English).

Thanks for reading and commenting. I always greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts and feelings  

The second stanza reminds me of climbing hills to find the sunny outcrop at the summit, from which miles and miles of mountain ranges stretch into a mysterious purple distance. Such a feeling is exalted, both literally, and in Baum’s poem, metaphorically. From his vantage, he foresees a day and a country in which all the valleys are in the sun, everyone together may enjoy its rays, and none are excluded. May it be so.