APOLLON Poem by Gerhard Falkner

Only the breast and quiver reveal the god Apollo
a torso that marble only makes more naked
the arm, fractured like the shaft of a lance
hovers empty in the fray of fragments
yet every part (laughing from deep within itself)
preserves its pride in what once was whole

The sun's light goes crazy
on this breast, shadows peel
every muscle from the stone
and every gaze lusts hard after itself
rather than be just the image's sting

Nowhere do you see blood
more is at stake, everything is at stake plus the
colossal measure with which the gods know their limits
Crete is already smiling, the wings of Icarus
turning to wax in the hot light
Olympus is at stake, beauty itself
(that we have barely known)
at best we catch, downloaded from heaven
a few ring tones

Übertragen von Mark Anderson