Upon reading Bertolt Brecht’s poem Rembrances of Marie A. (you may recognize this as being briefly featured in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s beautiful film The Lives of Others), I found myself thinking of an image by Johan Bergström.

This the start of a new series of posts I call “Phoetry” - pairing photographs with poetry. This is not weekly, or even monthly… it’s just when it feels fit. And I wouldn’t expect future posts to be as literal as this one seems to be. Enjoy!

After Rain Comes Sun, 2007 (from “Nostalgia”)
© Johan Bergström

Remembrances of Marie A.
by Bertolt Brecht (Scott Horton trans.)

1
On a certain day in the blue-moon month of September
Beneath a young plum tree, quietly
I held her there, my quiet, pale beloved
In my arms just like a graceful dream.
And over us in the beautiful summer sky
There was a cloud on which my gaze rested
It was very white and so immensely high
And when I looked up, it had disappeared.

2
Since that day many, many months
Have quietly floated down and past.
No doubt the plum trees were chopped down
And you ask me: what’s happened to my love?
So I answer you: I can’t remember.
And still, of course, I know what you mean
But I honestly can’t recollect her face
I just know: there was a time I kissed it.

3
And that kiss too I would have long forgotten
Had not the cloud been present there
That I still know and always will remember
It was so white and came from on high.
Perhaps those plum trees still bloom
And that woman now may have had her seventh child
But that cloud blossomed just a few minutes
And when I looked up, it had disappeared in the wind.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.