Words Are Lurking

Words are lurking

in the nooks and crannies of my cranium.

They wash away my thoughts

with a whoosh like a wave.

In their wake

a numb feeling follows.

Ties are loosened and

barriers fall.

Perhaps there’s something to say

after all.

Worte lauern

Worte lauern 

in den Windungen meines Gehirns.

Sie treffen meine Gedanken,

schwemmen sie weg, wie eine Welle.¹

Im Kielwasser

folgt ein taubes Gefühl.

Taue lösen sich und

Schranken fallen.²

Es gibt doch etwas, das wir

sagen wollen.³

¹ From the onset of this poem about thought, I am playing with alliteration in German, as well as with metaphors. The repeated use of the « w » in the second line of the second stanza evokes waves or « Wellen. » And this hooks onto the previous verse, which also starts with a « W » in « Worte » or words and leads to « Windungen, » literally meaning whorls or twisting coils. Also note that « Gehirn » (brain) has the same prefix as « Gedanken » (thoughts) in German. The English version reflects the German alliteration of the « w » in its second stanza in « with a whoosh like a wave », however it also plays with the repetitive purring sound of « words » and « lurk. »

² The next two verses are also about water as a medium of transport, once again reflecting thought processes. « Kielwasser, » which is literally the « wake » that follows a moving boat, leaves behind a calm area of water in its midst. The German « taubes Gefühl » (numb feeling) and « Taue » (ties) allow for a pleasing alliteration, which is re-created with the English « feeling follows » and « fall. »

³ The final verse in the German version ends in « wollen, » which forms an imperfect rhyme with « fallen » in the previous verse, as well as reflecting « Welle » at the end of the second verse. In the English version, I recreated the rhymes in the final two verses using « fall » and « all. » Nowhere does the meaning of the verses undergo any significant change, which certainly presented the most difficult obstacle in this « constrained translation. »