At the castle gate there is a green hortensia. Green leaves, green flowers. When the leaves droop, I take a plastic jug and run for water. Queen Hortensia.
– Sarah Kirsch
Translation by Johannes Beilharz. Source: Sarah Kirsch, La Pagerie, dtv, 1984.
Translator's note
By calling the flower Queen Hortensia, the author appears to obliquely allude to Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837), queen consort of Holland and stepdaughter of Napoleon I.
