[lit-ideas] Re: Rilke's Black Cat

  • From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 11:37:59 -0500 (GMT-05:00)

-----Original Message-----
From: Andreas Ramos <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Jan 26, 2005 1:21 PM
To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Rilke's Black Cat

Schwarze Katze
Ein Gespenst ist noch wie eine Stelle,
dran dein Blick mit einem Klange st=F6=DFt;
aber da, an diesem schwarzen Felle
wird dein st=E4rkstes Schauen aufgel=F6st:

wie ein Tobender, wenn er in vollster
Raserei ins Schwarze stampft,
j=E4hlings am benehmenden Gepolster
einer Zelle aufh=F6rt und verdampft.

Alle Blicke, die sie jemals trafen,
scheint sie also an sich zu verhehlen,
um dar=FCber drohend und verdrossen
zuzuschauern und damit zu schlafen.
Doch auf einmal kehrt sie, wie geweckt,
ihr Gesicht und mitten in das deine:
und da triffst du deinen Blick im geelen
Amber ihrer runden Augensteine
unerwartet wieder: eingeschlossen
wie ein ausgestorbenes Insekt.

----

A ghost is still something
On which your glance can hit against,
But in that black fur
Even your strongest stare dissolves.

Like when a lunatic in full rage
Charges into his darkness,
His howls sink into his cell's padding
And are muted and fade away.

All the looks she has ever seen
She seems to take into herself
To growl over and bite,
To look over and sleep upon them.
But suddenly, awakened, she turns her face to you,
And there you are,
In the golden amber of her eyes,
You see yourself,
Trapped like an ancient insect.

----=20

The poem is very suited to a cat's nature. You look at them and, half the t=
ime, you don't=20
know what they are thinking, but you know they are thinking something. Like=
 talking into a=20
cell phone and, not hearing anything, you begin to wonder if the connection=
 has been lost,=20
and your words drop away into the silence.

The poem's not about cats. It's a poem about art; how we look at an artwork=
 and forget=20
ourselves, and in the moment of forgetting, are aware of ourselves.


A.A.  The poem works even if it's about cats.  If Rilke had a cat then I wo=
uldn't be surprised if he wrote a love poem to him/her.  Needless to say, I=
 love cats.  I and T.S. Elliott and Rilke ...


Andy Amago



yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com=20

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