Twelve epitaphs for kira van kasteel, IX Poem by Christine D Haen

como el ciervo

Hornèd hart, horned upraised head
of hart, crowned head, wreathed throat
with grapes, roses; settled down next
Diana nude in the wood, who hounds does stroke,

o'erturns the jug of brooks, wild swine
makes approach and the bow lets fly.
O broad antlers, o wild prey that triumphs,
the hunters repose with the god of the vine.

Manly hart, not a fleeting, but pouring motion,
hermetic and harmonic, without hate;
thirsting for wellsprings of water, love potions,
that unwounded leaves the unwounded unscathed.

Honey kissed hunt, stouthearted hart
from mountains amid aromatic plants: life
once so unforgettably rife -
which I possess, and from you departs.

Translation: Scott Rollins