-

 Flows, Sings

In the early hour

peeing

later morning

 

surprises on tongue

tasting tea

teeth chewing lips

 

listening with

feet

on curious soles

 

another day

steps into my humming orb

with honest clarity


 

midday overflows into

afternoon

filled with silken chords


multiple voices ring

echoing

through ears, flesh, bones

 

misty waves of sound

weaving droplets into dusky desire

for rest, drifting, winter



five o’clock

sun’s gone already, structures,

roofs, walls, fences, blurred, melted, faint –

how could the day glide so effortlessly

Open is the garden: Licht

 

fading to shades of grey

evening

sprouts questions

 

darkness delicately explores

night

star-studded with dreams


Here

a fugue entices

centuries converge

music by J.S. Bach reaches

consoles, flows, sings, strings shimmer

Tröstet das Herz, wir sehnen uns

nach dieser Berührung

der Seele

 

Es regnet…

Auch heute noch

In der kleinen Kathedrale

klingt der Gesang

 Violoncello

Stimme

Orgel

Trost

 

geborgen im Stein

 ein Juwel


Karina Epperlein, Berkeley, November 2025


Stills of Enamel Jewelry by Jutta Epperlein 
(brooches approx 1x1 inch, circa 1990’s)

For my displaced parents, after the war in their early twenties, listening to live concerts of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music – performed by Karl Richter’s chorus and orchestra in churches and concert halls in München – saved their lives on a spiritual level. This miracle must have gotten infused into my blood cells when still in the womb. The deep connection never left me. How modern his compositions sound to me. How deeply nourishing and inspiring. Nowadays, more Americans seem to have taken to this astonishing composer who died 275 years ago at age sixty-five.  Speaking to us over continents and centuries. How lucky we are that his music has been preserved. With the help of the famous Bach-Archive in Leipzig where composers, scholars and musicians from all over the world do their research and pay homage to the great master.


Here a wonderful “international” experience I had in 2019

Bachfest in Leipzig


And lastly, the Translation from German at end of poem:

Licht = light

 

[Here a Fugue entices…. music by J.S. Bach… flows, sings, strings shimmer]

Consoles the heart, we yearn

for soul being touched

like this

 

it rains…

Even still today

in the small cathedral

resonates the singing

violoncello

voice

organ

solace

 

embraced in stone

a jewel

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
Let Us Be Careful   The last few days, a feeling of being adrift in a vast tumultuous ocean…. I am stirred deeply.  Uneasy. The recent bizarre speeches of American politicians in Germany have left me strangely irritated. The arrogant tone, the hostility. As most of you know, I am now officially  both a German Citizen and an American Citizen . Both countries with their histories and cultures are lodged in my bones. Ich bin tief verbunden . In telephone talks with my two siblings, I try to find out how things are evolving in Germany, the country I left 44 years ago. In recent years, cultural transformations of unknown outcome have been happening. Again, times of war in Europe. It does not bode well for the future. The weight of the Unknown. Generational and personal memories keep arising.     In 1992, I arrange for my (Chicago born Jewish)  late husband Bob Blauner and me  (München born German) a personal tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. W...
Read more
-
Image
  “I Wanted All Of Society To Be A Witness.” These days, when tears spring up in the eye so quickly, so readily like tiny wild strawberries, each time I know the heart is touched whether I want it or not – the silvery breathy voice of the young science writer, the shy bowing of the singer receiving her applause, the sweet smile of Cecile after an exquisite concert, the fiercely angry voices of French admirers of Gisèle Pelicot. And then of course: the grandson, one arm around his 72-year-old grandmother’s shoulder as she gives her brief speech to the press after a grueling months-long public trial of rape. He admiringly glances at her, with utter calm, concentration and confidence, soft support in his face and body language, nothing restless, over bearing, pitying – only admiration, respect and love. And I burst into tears! This rape story is not about a celebrity, starlet, beauty queen, but about a retired manager, married mother and grandmother, having been drugged unconscious an...
Read more
-
Image
  I Shall Bear Witness   History never repeats exactly, but the patterns are often similar. With everyone now wildly speculating about the future and what’s to come, I look for inspiration to a voice from my birth country’s darkest times:  Victor Klemperer . A month ago, I pull out the two hefty volumes of his diaries: I Will Bear Witness, the Nazi years 1933 – 1942, and 1942 – 1945 . The German title is: Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten. The literal translation: I want to bear witness  to the last .  To the last. Published in German in 1995, very good translation into English in 1998. Victor Klemperer (1881 – 1960) was a Jewish-born German literary scholar, a cousin of the famous conductor Otto Klemperer, married to Eva, an “Aryan” German, one of the factors that helped the couple to miraculously survive. After the war they settle back in Dresden, which is East Germany under Russian control in 1945. His diaries also survive. They are truly stunning. Pet...
Read more