Three Poems for June
June with Mary Oliver, Hermann Hesse & Mahmoud Darwish
Happy Monday, dear Reader!
We are in the middle of June, and it is possibly the most beautiful time of the summer, with most of it still ahead of us.
Here are three poems to celebrate this month. One poem arrives like a memory, another like a garden and the last like a wound disguised as music. Together, they hold the ache and radiance of June, a month that glows with ripeness, longing and the nostalgia of things ending even as they begin. June asks for presence. To stand in its heat, to touch what still hurts, and still, to bloom.
June
A poem by Hermann Hesse from 1906
The hay is ripe and fragrant sweet;
Go, be glad, and join its treat.
In all our years, no season feels
As fair as the one just past
Das Heu ist reif und duftet fein;
Geh hin, sei froh und füg dich drein.
In unserm Leben wird kein Jahr
So schön, wie das vergangene war.
(Translation from German by Sharon Krebs)
Honey Locust by Mary Oliver
Who can tell how lovely in June is the
honey locust tree, or why
a tree should be so sweet and live
in this world? Each white blossom
on a dangle of white flowers holds one green seed—
a new life. Also each blossom on a dangle of flower
holds a flask
of fragrance called heaven, which is never sealed.
The bees circle the tree and dive into it. They are crazy
with gratitude. They are working like farmers. They are as
happy as saints. After awhile the flowers begin to
wilt and drop down into the grass. Welcome
shines in the grass.Each year I gather
handfuls of blossoms and eat of their mealiness; the honey
melts in my mouth, the seeds make me strong,
both when they are crisps and ripe, and even at the end
when their petals have turned dully yellow.So it is
if the heart has devoted itself to love, there is
not a single inch of emptiness. Gladness gleams
all the way to the grave.
The Return of June by Mahmoud Darwish
Is June a memory? someone asks.
I answer: it’s a wound
still bleeding—though its bearer says,
“I have forgotten the pain.”
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Thank you for reading and being a part of Earth Poet.
Much Love
— Earth Poetress
References / Bibliography
Hesse, Hermann. “June.” Jahreszeiten. Gedichte (1906). Translated by Sharon Krebs. Accessed via sharonkrebs.com. https://sharonkrebs.com/hermann-hesse-june/
Oliver, Mary. “Honey Locust.” In Thirst, Beacon Press, 2006.
Darwish, Mahmoud. “The Return of June.” Translated by Fady Joudah, in If I Were Another: Poems, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009.
Fig. 1 — Albers, Josef. Study for Homage to the Square: Departing in Yellow. 1964. Oil on fiberboard, 76.2 × 76.2 cm. Tate Modern, London. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / DACS 2018, photo © Tate, 2018. Link: https://www.artchive.com/artwork/study-for-homage-to-the-square-departing-in-yellow-josef-albers-1964/
Fig. 2 — Hesse, Hermann. Hermann Hesse vor seinem Haus in Montagnola, Tessin. Photo by Keystone, 9 Aug 2012. Published Hesse: Schreibender, Therapeut, Suchender, 9 Aug 2012. Available at: https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/kultur/hesse-schreibender-therapeut-suchender/33163634 swissinfo.ch+2swissinfo.ch+2swissinfo.ch+2