Taken from an anthology entitled _Music While Drowning_.
_Summer_
Evenings the cuckoo’s complaint
Fades from the woods.
Wheat bends lower.
The red poppies.
Black clouds threaten
Above the hill.
The old song of the cricket
Dies away in the fields.
The chestnut leaves
Never stir.
On the winding stair
Your dress rustles.
Candle burning quietly
In the dark room –
A silver hand
Snuffs it out.
Windless unstarry night.
GEORG TRAKL
(Translated by Keith Waldrop)
# Explanation