Alba
Kühl wie die bleichen nassen Blätter
des Maiglöckchens
Lag sie in der Morgendämmerung an meiner Seite
Translated by Johannes Beilharz (© 2020)
Note on this translation
There is a previous translation by Eva Hesse that is quoted on the Internet. She translated the word
leaves as
Blüten (blossoms, flowers). It seems unlikely that Ezra Pound did not know the difference between leaves and flowers, i.e. he did
not require correction in German. Granted, white (the color of the flowers of lily of the valley) is paler than green (the color of the leaves), but the shape of the leaves (longish and flared) is more like the body of a woman than the flowers, which are bell-shaped (hence the German name
Maiglöckchen) and round. Unless Pound really found a whitish, bell-shaped round woman by his side on that poetic morning...
– Johannes Beilharz
