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    AC Benus
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

The Ultimate Vehicle of Earthly Bliss - 22. Words of the Dead

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Worte einer Toten

(nach dem Französischen des Maurice Maeterlinck)

 

„Was soll ich ihm sagen einst

Wenn er wiederkehrt?“

„Das ich ihn erwartet hab,

Bis der Tod gewehrt.“

„Wenn er nun weiterfragt

Und kennt mich nicht mehr?“

„Sprich ihm als Schwester zu

Vielleicht betrübts ihn sehr.“

„Fragt er mich, wo du seist,

Was dann soll ich reden?“

„Gib ihm meinen goldner Ring

Ohne zu reden.“

„Wenn er den Saal leer sieht

Und davon spricht?“

„Zeig ihm die offne Tür

Und das tote Licht.“

„Und wenn er weiter fragt

Wie der Tod gekommen?“

„Lächelnd, damit er nicht weint,

Hätt ich ihn genommen.“ [i]

 

     ---------------------------------

 

Words of the Dead

(after the French by Maurice Maeterlinck)

 

“What do you want me to say

Once he returns for you?”

“Tell him I waited until,

Death could wait no more.”

“What if he persists to ask,

Like he doesn’t know me?”

“Speak to him like a sister,

Knowing he grieves deeply.”

“If he asks me where you’ve gone,

What then shall I say?”

“Hand to him my golden ring,

And say no more than that.”

“When he sees the empty hall,

And asks me of this?”

“Show him then the open door

With its dying light.”

“But if he wants to know how

You came to be dead?”

“Smiling, lest he starts to cry,

Say I would have taken him.”

 

 

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[i] “Worte einer Toten” Toni Schwabe, Ibid., p. 24

https://archive.org/details/3476447/page/24/mode/2up

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Copyright © 2024 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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AC Benus

Posted (edited)

On 6/24/2024 at 2:32 PM, ReaderPaul said:

Wow.  Challenging to assimilate.

I'm not versed on Maeterlinck's original, but I picture Schwabe's version as a scene between a woman and her female servant. When the woman's lover calls for her -- after perhaps being away on a ling trip -- the servant is to say the woman has died. Why do this? IDK -- but maybe for Schabe the answer, rather autobiographical, perhaps, is because the speaker has found the love of her life with another woman. 

That's the way I see the piece at least

Edited by AC Benus
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On 6/24/2024 at 9:22 PM, chris191070 said:

Wow, that’s an interesting topic.

Thanks, Chris. I wrote my view of the poem above, and am having trouble finding Maeterlinck's original. I guess he's not been very popular with English-speakers . . .

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