Paul Celan
Romanian-French · 1920–1970
Romanian-born poet who wrote in German, forging a fractured, haunted language to bear witness to the Holocaust. His poem "Todesfuge" is among the most important of the twentieth century.
Wikipedia ↗“Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends wir trinken sie mittags und morgens wir trinken sie nachts.”
German
“Black milk of daybreak we drink it at evening we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night.”
“Sprich auch du, sprich als letzter, sag deinen Spruch. Sprich – Doch scheide das Nein nicht vom Ja. Gib deinem Spruch auch den Sinn: gib ihm den Schatten.”
German
“Speak, you too, speak as the last, have your say. Speak – but keep yes and no unsplit. And give your say this meaning: give it the shade.”
“Niemand knetet uns wieder aus Erde und Lehm, niemand bespricht unseren Staub. Niemand. Gelobt seist du, Niemand. Dir zulieb wollen wir blühn.”
German
“No one kneads us again out of earth and clay, no one incants our dust. No one. Blessed art thou, No One. In thy sight would we bloom.”
“Es war Erde in ihnen, und sie gruben.”
German
“There was earth inside them, and they dug.”