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Literature Text
your castle stones shimmer
sunburn, the pink kind
that wrinkles with time
and turns to sepia.
I see autumn's shadow collide
past and present, when summer leaves
brown in fainter sunshine, curl and whisk away
to dust the crimson rooftops, the pebbled paths
that once inspired scholarly thoughts.
Under my feet they promise of snow
sleeting from the peaks
of gingerbread mountains, white
and sugary, clumped
and rolled by human hands.
I stumble,
and the earth crumbles
riverside down, the sunrise breathes
orange into dim sky
and soft, I feel like a child
discovering how to walk
the first time, cleaving air and light
and stone below.
25.05.2016- third draft.
----
Heidelberg, your streets run
with the blood of philosophers -
roses and rubies cascade
where they once meditate upon
the river Neckar, the pink stones
of fallen castles to be spat upon
by the people. Heidelberg,
your history outweighs the secrets,
it catacombs through snow
like coffee grains wedged
between wrinkled stones.
The Altstadt is your legacy,
an anachronism; the Hauptstrasse
rambles through like a goatherd
beating a path for sheep; The Universitat
boasts arches and sandstones enduring
on history's pedestal - now lost
in the squall of market stalls peddling bratwurst
in the rain.
Heidelberg, from the Philosophenweg
I can see autumn's shadow collide
past and present, when summer leaves
brown in fainter sunshine, curl and whisk away
to dust the crimson rooftops, the pebbled paths
that once inspired scholarly thoughts.
Under my feet they promise of snow
sleeting from the peaks
of gingerbread mountains, white
and sugary, clumped
and rolled by human hands. I stumble,
and the earth crumbles
riverside down, the sunset breathes
orange into dim skylines
and soft, I feel like a child
discovering how to walk
the first time, cleaving air and light
and stone below
But Heidelberg,
you are no postcard; you are sepia stones
dipped in rosewater, there is corn
and coffee on your gated jaw and memory
stirs memory, stirs fragments
of life in forgotten empathy. While generations
lay waste to your touristic baubles, I wonder
if they never pause to contemplate
myth and modernity in your brooding, of life
plucked from shadow, told to breathe mystery
and promise. Or to pay tribute
to the greatest minds that strive to enrich
our human knowledge, within cloistered walls.
You were untouched, Heidelberg, no bomb
would flatten your spires or dent your squares,
you were an architectural legacy that Fortune spared
and yet, as you linger, remember,
your thoughtful spirit rises and settles
into this flighty traveller's heart.
Oooft. About time. I wrote the first stanza back on January 23rd this year, started writing to it yesterday and now done for today. It is very very strange what five months could do to your poetry. Not to mention your memory of places and people in a trip that was just over six months ago. But argh. Worked my butt off and I don't think it's that great. Rusty around the edges. I think I had Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" in mind- writing a whole poem based on a place but is really about one's personal reflections. The more I tried to describe, the more I slipped into introspective thought. Oh well. Anyway, as can be guessed from the title, it's based on my visit on the 5th of December 2011 to Heidelberg, which was about a two-hour train trip from Frankfurt, Germany. My parents and I made it a day trip while staying at Frankfurt. It's an interesting contrast and credit to Germany's rich culture when you've got supermodern Frankfurt and Heidelberg is like a slice of history tucked away in a valley and next to a beautiful river and seemingly preserved in a lot of buildings with pink stone. I do not kid about the pink stone. That definitely stuck in my mind.
Some definitions to get you less confused:
Neckar: main river that runs near Heidelberg
Altstadt: Old Town, basically the pretty nice quarter of town in Heidelberg that goes back to the medieval ages. Google for pictures.
Universitat: university, specifically Heidelberg University, the oldest university in Germany.
Hauptstrasse: Main Road. When I went there, it was jammed with Christmas stalls.
Philosophenweg: Philosopher's Walk, a nice, steep walk that overlooks the river Neckar and Heidelberg. Spectacular views. Apparently even better to visit in summer, because it has an unusually warm climate which encourages cypresses and Japanese maples to grow during then. It's named after philosophers from the university like Hegel walking this path whilst contemplating their philosophical dilemmas.
Bratwurst: sausage roll
As usual, would love feedback. Especially that last stanza- I think I went a bit too abstract and vague. In any case, hopefully this kickstarts my attempt to finish documenting my Europe trip through poetry.
