von Eichendorff: Moonlit

1 Minute Read Time

                a version

As if heaven 
gave earth
a silent 
shimmering 
kiss
it can only 
dream of—
through fields 
air gently 
moved
the moving 
grain and woods 
rustled alive 
unanxious in 
starclear night. 
And something 
like a soul
(my soul?) spread 
tense wings
and flew 
through 
silent lands 
it flew
as if flying home 
and home
were someplace 
still
it had 
never been
it had 
never 
been there
yet somehow 
knew.

Joshua Weiner

is the author of three books of poetry, and the editor of At the Barriers: On the Poetry of Thom Gunn (all from Chicago); Berlin Notebook: Where Are the Refugees? (LARB, 2016); and the translator of Nelly Sachs’ Flight and Metamorphosis (FSG, 2022). He teaches at University of Maryland and lives in Washington DC.

Return to top of page

Search