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Best Poems From
ERHARD HANS JOSEF LANG
(January 8,1957)
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1.
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Hecate Invocation (traditional)
[Hekate is a Goddess of the Moon and the Underworld of ancient Greece
and Rome]
Goddess of the cross-roads,
Goddess of Manic-Depression,
Dweller in the deep places of the earth and mind,
Traveller in the land between worlds!
Torch-bearer! Protectress of the very old and the very young;
Protectress of those used and abused;
Healer of those who are torn apart;
She will be there for us when we call on her and at the end.
Grandmother to lost children and to the downtrodden.
Nurse to the suckling infant,
Comfort to the lone man or woman in the darkest night.
She who seeks vengeance for her children who are wronged!
Wanderer and prowler!
Sorceress who lives at the edge of the mind.
Drawer-up of the secret compost from the unused internal well.
She who has no relatives on the earth save for her children.
Without Mother or Sister.
Lady on the brink, both bi-polar and uni-polar!
They call her mad, and it is she who terrifies the disbeliever and the
unworthy!
Bringer of nightmares!
But she it is who sooths the sleepless and disheveled spirit.
Mother of night!
Dark Power of the moon!
Keeper of the shadow!
Walker of the endless highways!
She unites those who follow her as her children; the Hekite.
Bearer of the sacred poppy.
Shape-shifter, Transformer.
Keeper of the hounds of Hel and the three-headed dog Cerebus!
She walks abroad in the hour of the wolf and under the Dark Moon!
Hear my call O Lady and cover us with your starry cloak.
Let the unborn moon seed in my heart this night.
And let her growing light shine upon our intention;
That she be at our full deliverance,
So Mote it be!
Erhard Hans Josef Lang
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2.
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Motion For Peace (translation)
With wet traces yet of the embittered quarreling
in our eyes that we have pinched together
we are biting ourselves fast onto each other
angrily anxious to celebrate our reconciliation
creamy drops of maddened cardiac blood
cleansing us, making us pure again
as you are stabbing me,
I am devouring you
we're hooking on to each other with our claws
to expell the anger with our loins
we tear each other's throats out
with our angry teethy kissing,
mangle each other
only to be restoring ourselves again under tears of despondency,
nailing each other to the wall,
to the table, to the bed
for licking up our wounds and bruises mutually
the ground is tainted with our passion for each other
we'll be getting mellow only then
when death with small steps comes rolling over us
enfolding us once more
as we are gasping snuggled into one another
caressing the red-pearled traces of our scratches
the air after that bad weather being clean
reeking of beastly lust
as I passionately love to be dying with you
a thousand times like in an explosion.
by Sappho of Ancient Greece (ca.630 - 570 B.C.)
freely retranslated into English by Erhard Hans Josef Lang after a
translation into German by philologist Sabine Römmer
Erhard Hans Josef Lang
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3.
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And The Gods May Work Their Magic Out Even With The Mantra Lost!
Hair-raising novelty;
Unbelievable story.
Yet something truly experienced.
In India all of them were all ears,
When I once fell into recounting the story to men by the roadside,
Clad in pure white, who became
Visibly quite amused and elated by such foreign freelance reports from
Their world of heavenly Hindu earth.
Came home once, 'twas a good year, from downtown, there
Where I'd been living for long way far out East,
Came home once with some sheets of mystical-scientific papers
Under my arm,
Completely new to me,
It happened to be on my mother's birthday,
Extramundane instructions of indeed one of a kind,
Matters from on high, pertaining to
Goddesses' royal worships and their ritualistic aspects,
High-lighted and exposed in ornamental details for the
Advanced regal audience of initiated followership.
One full length of a page, with most diverse mantras on it;
All dedicated to and given by Great Lady Time, Mother Mahakali
- Greatest Being of a cosmic Damsel spirit
Middling between
World terror and world harmony.
Different mantras, different powers, different effects.
Hoary magic knowledge, derived from the knowledge about cosmic mind.
'And if your concentration and meditation was well-focused
And the practitioner's attitude beneficial to the world
All along the application of the mantra,
Any reward might in due time turn in.'
Understandable point!
But then there was one mantra with a terrific,
An almost unbelievable claim:
'... This is a wish-fulfilling magic rhyme that will make
Any desire formed in mind
Come true to its chanter
Instantaneously!
Instantaneously?
In a second!
Oh, what a high claim!
'This must be a truly most secret mantra! '
'Would I want to test and apply it? '
('Thou shalt not put the Gods to test! ! ')
'What would I possibly want to wish for at this moment,
If I were to apply the instantly fulfilling magic rhyme? '
'Everyone's healthy at home,
Of needed things there's actually nothing lacking for the moment -
But only, maybe, for one thing:
A herbal gift package for an inspirational matinee
Through the verdant hands of friendly Shaktigurunathan
Hadn't found its way for long to
This house of enjoyment.'
After thinking thus poetically, and perusing for once the mantra,
There was a knock on my room door:
It was by one of my close ones:
'My love, there's someone at the gate for you,
A man who wants to speak to you.'
'Tell him to step in. Who is he? '
Had been a former neighbour boy,
Who helped us carry things
When we moved to the other house,
Whom I hadn't seen for many years.
'I have something to offer to you, it is of best quality
And it's rather cheap,
I thought of you, you might want it.'
There it was, the very thing I had thought of, when
Trying to think of anything for a
Desire in my mind,
Before reading that mantra of quickest promise.
It really had fulfilled itself in an instant,
Its claim returned in a second!
Overwhelming.
It got me into making the mistake of letting it out and
The boy know about it, who
In an unguarded moment while inside my house
Must have stolen the sheet with the precious mantras on.
Later on I've never seen the magic paper anymore,
From then on, it was simply gone.
And so was the boy with whom the paper went.
Soon after he was rumoured about as having
Gotten himself into some bad trouble.
Then I could well understand why.
To-day I have downloaded from the net
And installed for display,
To my own gratification as the good gadget's user,
Into the small upper window of the main
Menue on my mobile phone
A new operator logo,
That says in classic hand-writing,
Written in light red:
'Bestfriend',
And fits perfectly into the pre-given space,
Cutting a nice figure within the set.
Yet, before this 'Bestfriend' was granted to successfully
lock in
With my unit to be lodged here with me,
Some hard-headed ethereal signal inhibition was
Yet hampering the finalization of the download act, and
It was that first a real one-time bestfriend,
Someone whom for long I hadn't heard of,
Chanced to have wanted to make a
Courtesy call for once again
Inquiring about my well-fare.
A short call only for decency's sake
Which rendered both of us all the happier.
And then only it was,
A few moments after that call that
I was allowed to accomplish the started download, thus
From that moment only onward now
Having the word 'Bestfriend' glittering on the topside of this toy boy,
My mental compost catering fawn.
With the Gods, so it seems,
An instant fulfillment of a desire, and be it a latent one,
May, if whenever and with whomsoever
They haven chosen to make it happen,
Indeed, come true, and be it in a short
Instant,
Even if there hadn't been any secret mantras known.
To make oneself worthy of being given once in a while
Some sudden and deeper joy, like as if
From higher Angelic spheres,
There maybe it is where our 'true secrets' lie.
Erhard Hans Josef Lang
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4.
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The Country Of Finland (translation with original)
The country of Finland:
When I'm running in the countrysides of the country of Finland,
I live my days all anew!
The heart feels, understands and realizes,
memories of youth lurking somewhere.
Thus comes this day to a closing,
again one's feeling so happy,
the songs are sung, the games played,
all things feel calm, there's peace unbreaking.
This much sustaining is the country of Finland,
That when I'm looking across the surface of a pond
I see everything in its water,
also things of tomorrow.
I am a reference to the surface of the pond,
to the odours of the flowers of solstice,
from the air I draw Finland into my nostrils.
Someone might have found a bride?
Sneaked away at the heart of night, for collecting,
flowers so that she'd wake up -
into a dream which makes a bride come near.
May even happen, whatever shouldn't happen,
it couldn't get me away from here.
The country of Finland I shall never forget,
I shall not let it slip out of my mind.
Yet I won't leave
and be a companion to the star of the country of Finland.
Full of eagerness I'm jumping hereabouts,
on the soil of my home -
of the country of Finland!
Whose vales, hillocks, beaches and waters,
thither I shall be led to go, whereever you're going.
Though it had been cold to attend school,
my throat parched, even that I loved.
For friends I had there,
so I went to school with a cheerful mien.
by Jukka Aittakumpu
translated by Erhard Hans Josef Lang
[this poem was selected to be Finland's most Finnish poem by the jury of the poetry contest Kirjakantti 2008]
in its original Finnish:
SUOMENMAA: JUOSTESSA MÄ MAILLA SUOMENMAAN
(vuoden 2008 Suomen suomalaisin runo -kilpailun voittanut Jukka Aittakummun kirjoittama uusi runo)
Juostessa mailla mä Suomenmaan,
aivan elän päiväni uudestaan!
Sydän tuntee, tietää ja tajuaa,
muistot nuoruuden jostain vainuaa.
Näin päättyvi päivä tää tälleen,
olo on niin onnekas jälleen.
Laulut laulettu, leikit leikitty on,
olo vain on tyyni, rauha rikkumaton.
Niin kantava on maa Suomen,
kun katselen pintaa mä lammen:
Näen vedestä kaiken, myös huomisen.
Kosketan pintaa mä lammen.
Tuoksuja juhannuskukkien,
ilmasta nuuhkin mä Suomen.
Liekö morsiamen joku saanut?
Yösydännä hiipinyt keräämään,
kukkia, et' saisi herätä -
uneen mi immen tuo luokseen.
Tapahtuu mitä sitten tapahtuukaan,
mut pois se ei vie mua täältä.
Suomenmaata en unhoita,
en pois sitä mielestä päästä.
Tahdo en vielä mä lähteä,
seurallen Suomenmaan tähteä.
Hyppelen täällä mä innoissaan,
mailla mun kotini - Suomenmaan!
Sen laaksot, kukkulat, rannat ja veet,
minut vieköön sinne, minne sä meet.
Vaikka kylmä oli kouluhun käydäkin,
kurkku kuivana, rakastin sitäkin.
Ystäviä kun mun oli siellä,
koulua kävinhän riemumiellä.
JUKKA AITTAKUMPU
in German:
DAS LAND FINNLAND: WENN ICH AUF DES LANDS FINNLAND SCHOLLEN RENNE
Wenn ich auf des Lands Finnland Schollen renne,
durchlebe ich meine Tage ganz aufs neue!
Das Herz fühlt, versteht und nimmt wahr,
Erinnerungen aus irgendwoher in der Jugend verfolgen einen.
So kommt denn dieser Tag darüber zu seinem Schluß,
Wiederum fühlt man sich richtig glücklich,
die Lieder sind gesungen, die Spiele gespielt,
das Wesentliche ist geglättet, es herrscht unverbrüchlicher Friede.
Derart tragkräftig ist das Land Finnland, daß
wenn ich auf die Oberfläche eines Teichs hinausblicke,
ich im Wasser alles sehe, auch das Morgige.
Ich stehe in einem Bezug zur Oberfläche des Teichs,
zu den Düften der Sonnwendblumen,
aus den Lüften schnuppere ich mir das Finnland ein.
Mag wohl jemand eine Braut gekriegt haben?
Im Herzen der Nacht sich davongeschlichen, um etwas zu sammeln,
Blumen, damit diese aufwachte -
in einen Traum, der einem eine Jungfer beschafft.
Passierte auch immer, was nicht auch passieren mag, aber weg kriegte es mich nicht von hier.
Das Land Finnland werde ich nicht vergessen.
Ich lasse es nicht aus meinen Gedanken heraus.
Ich möchte mich noch nicht auf den Weg machen,
Und dem Stern des Lands Finnland Gesellschaft leisten.
Ich springe hier voller Eifer umher,
auf den Schollen meiner Heimat -
des Lands Finnland!
Dessen Täler, Hügel, Gestade und Gewässer,
dorthin führe es mich, wohin du gehst.
Wenn es auch kalt war, auf die Schule zu gehen,
die Kehle trocken, so liebte ich auch das.
Zumal ich doch Freunde dort hatte,
durchlief ich die Schule mit freudiger Mien'.
JUKKA AITTAKUMPU
Erhard Hans Josef Lang
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