Translated from German by Iain Galbraith
the mountains keep the earth in poise [/ lineate] and the seas in check · A stone slab above [/ lineate] my head teetered as I leant on its flank · thus [/ lineate] a wave breaks and is hurled back · smooth [/ lineate] slopes and a swallow’s nest · the wind freezes [/ lineate] in the nooks and gulping air your mouth [ / lineate] is sated with a Fear That fades [/ lineate] Solely When You Walk · debris and scree · the noon [/ lineate] a bowl where the rock-falls echo · the slope erodes [/ lineate] layer by layer as if time here lay thin [/ lineate] and peeling · what Lends order to this space [/ lineate] are my outstretched arm and finger Their diagonal line [/ lineate] is my assurance of life · A steady pace [/ lineate] along a ledge and the steeper the track [/ lineate] the more my eyes were fixed on the path · in one place [/ lineate] a jutting larch · There Was No Turning Back [/ lineate] at every step I lunged into the shadow cast before me by [/ lineate] a reproachful sun · Slowly it began to take [/ lineate] on measure in the light as if it Wished to pay [/ lineate] its dues to a body Whose toes and fingertips were all that clung [/ lineate] to the rock · in meadows higher up the day [/ lineate] stripped sods as big as fontanels · It was groping [/ lineate] for a hold on this stony mass in the other face [/ lineate] of death · and it what as clear as an ice-cold spring [/ lineate] winter 1311 [/ lineate]~ Raoul Schrott
