Nelly Sachs

But perhaps God needs the longing, wherever else shall it dwell,

Which with kisses and tears and sighs fills mysterious spaces of air -

And perhaps is invisible soil from which roots of stars grow and swell -

And the radiant voice across fields of parting which calls to reunion there?

O my beloved, perhaps in the sky of longing worlds have been born of our love -

Just as our breathing, in and out, builds a cradle for life and death?

We are grains of sand, dark with farewell, lost in births' secret treasure trove,

Around us already perhaps future moons, suns, and stars blaze in a fiery wreath.

 

~ Nelly Sachs ~

 

(Translated by Ruth and Matthew Mead, in

A Book of Women Poets from Antiquity to Now,

 ed. by Aliki and Willis Barnstone)