Poem of the Week: In Lovely Blue

from In Lovely Blue

By Friedrich Hölderlin

Translated by George Kalogeris

Like the stamen inside a flower 
The steeple stands in lovely blue 
And the day unfolds around its needle; 

The flock of swallows that circles the steeple 
Flies there each day through the same blue air 
That carries their cries from me to you; 

We know how high the sun is now 
As long as the roof of the steeple glows, 
The roof that’s covered with sheets of tin; 

Up there in the wind, where the wind is not 
Turning the vane of the weathercock, 
The weathercock silently crows in the wind.

HT: Poetry Foundation   
Image HT: Klenda from North Dakota