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- 08/13/2023
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Light & Dragonflies: Nature Poems/Love Poems - 1. Wandering through the power of your eyes
.
Wenn du langsam hingehst
fühl ich Abend
Nebel schleiert hoch
mein Fuß geht irr durch die Macht deines Auges
meiner Hände Trauerweiden hängen
und der Lippen Lerchen schlummern still
bis der Morgen sonnenlachengoldig wieder alle
Wiesen überspringt
und die Stirne wie der Himmel aufsteigt
klar und unbewölkt
frühwindumspült [i]
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When you leave slowly, I
feel the evening
fog veiling my feet
Wandering through the power of your eyes, my
hands hang weeping willows and the larks
on my lips slumber quietly
until the morning with golden sunshine leaps over
the meadows once more
and my aspects rise again like the sky
clear and free of clouds
bathed in freshness
[i] “Wenn du langsam hingehst” Wilhelm Runge, printed in the February issue of Der Strum magazine (Berlin 1919), ps. 140-142
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924106556214&seq=148
One often encounters terms used in refrain-like manner with German Expressionist verse. Else Lasker-Schüler, for example, routinely uses gold and golden in her poems. With Wilhelm Runge, the term is Stirne. As my translations propose Runge uses this word in varying meanings, I feel I should provide my source information, lest I be accused of ‘reading too much’ into a term that may seem basic enough at face value. With a little digging, it soon becomes apparent the word’s scope is quite broad.
Stirne (N. plural) = brows, forehead(s?). From Middle High German: “Mittelhochdeutsch stirn(e), althochdeutsch stirna, eigentlich = ausgebreitete Fläche, zu strahl.” [[Middle High German brow(s), Old High German fornna, actually = spread out area (Fläche = N. faces; surfaces; areas; planes; expenses); to beam (Strahl = N. ray; beam; spurt; gush; horizon line [as used in math and perspective])]]
Literary: nerves. Have the ‘brows’ to do something brave. Also, to dare another in the sense of “cause an effrontery”; or, to stand up and challenge illegitimate authority; i.e. have the cheek to do something. To be resolute.
Thus, in summary, Stirne means brows and forehead; the plane of something inanimate like a vast field (or a cliff face, etc.); one’s mental viewpoint or perspective; a literal landscape’s perspective; or, as a verb, to mathematically project the vanishing lines used in perspective drawings. And also figuratively, to show or project cheek; daring; bravery, gall; nerves; etc.
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