“Thyme” & “Sycamore matter”

Christian Lehnert
Translated from the German by Richard Sieburth

Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)Its scent / a shallow sleep / that seeps into the copse.The heavy roots of light / sunk deep into the rocks. Thymian (Thymus serpyllum)Sein Duft / ein flacher Schlaf / versickert im Gestein.Das wurzelschwere Licht    wächst in die Felsen ein.  Sycamore matterIt’s different at different hours.In the sun it exhibits / its split petioles /Its sheets of bark / mushrooms in their folds /Its blood scabbing the wounds of its roots.At dusk it finally becomes clear. A tree bornOf itself / as rim and rift: Not what it is /Grown so thick it makes a hole in the light /Gone so dark / it waits at its own door. Materie des BergahornsEr ist ein anderer zu andrer Stunde /Zeigt Narbenschründe in der Sonne / FaltenVon Rindenschuppen / in verpilzten SpaltenErstarrt das Baumblut aus den Wurzelwunden.In Dämmern ist der Baum erst klar / ist QuelleVon innen / Rand und Rib: Er ist es nicht /Verdichtet sich zu einem Loch im Licht /Wird schwarz / er steht an seiner eignen Schwelle.

Feature Date

Series

  • Translation

Selected By

Share This Poem

Print This Poem

Headshot of Christian Lehnert

Christian Lehnert was born in Dresden in 1969. Since 1995 he has published poetry with Suhrkamp Verlag, and in literary journals, including German Academy of Arts’ Sinn und Form. In 2010, Lehnert’s libretto for Hans Werner Henze’s opera Phaedra was performed at the Barbican. Lehnert’s work has been awarded several prizes including the Eichendorff Prize in 2016, and the German Prize for Nature Writing in 2018. He is the head of the Liturgical Studies department at the University of Leipzig.

Headshot of Richard Sieburth

Award-winning translator Richard Sieburth is currently preparing new versions of the selected poetry of Johannes Bobrowski, to be published by NYRB/Poets next fall.

Cover of Wickerwork

BOOKSHOP

PUBLISHER

Wickerwork
Archipelago Books

Brooklyn, New York

  • Featured book

Wickerwork traffics in details that might have otherwise gone unnoticed: the far sides of fishes, red jellyfish fraying on a tide, the way a hazel tree learns from the falling of snow how to scatter her pollen. This bilingual edition is the first comprehensive collection of Christian Lehnert’s work to appear in English, translated by the celebrated translator and scholar, Richard Sieburth.

"Timeless, ecstatic, original: Richard Sieburth creates an intricate music for Christian Lehnert's crystalline poems. Lehnert sees nature—amoebas, bats, lichen, whales—in a mystic glow reflected from Meister Eckhart, Jakob Boehme, and the Zohar. To read these poems is to put a finger on the pulse of life, to feel algae as a membrane, 'its yesterdays and tomorrows / sheathed in slime,' and amethyst as 'sediment in shock.' An incandescent experience."
—Rosanna Warren

Poetry Daily Depends on You

With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.

DONATE NOW