The Silent Woman: A Collection of Poems 1971 – 1999

By Katharine Laura

This collection of poems was written over a period of almost 20 years, in Switzerland, where the author resided as a foreigner. The poems were inspired by nature and the mystical feelings it induces, as well as by a quest to comprehend this state of being called life - from our very limited human standpoint. Some poems are related to deeply personal experiences; others embracegenerally the human condition and its psychology. Depending on the spontaneous feelings at the time a poem took form, it would be composed in english or french - whichever language best suited the ambience of the moment. The french poems have been recently translated – which was difficult and a new experience for the author. An endeavor was made to re-create the same mood and tone of the originals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669802495

Katharine Laura

The author is an inveterate animal and nature lover and lives in Mexico.

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Copyright © 2022 by Katharine Laura.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/03/2022

Xlibris

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Contents

PART I   ENGLISH POEMS

The Eleventh of May

A Humble Prayer

The Wise Owl

The House

Poetry

Strange life, strange dream

The Bird of Dawn

A New Day

The Children

Searching

Soldier

An Invisible Net

Passionata

Symbols

To a Soldier-Poet

Proletariat Rejoice!

A Witch’s Prayer

In League

Quo Fata Ferunt

Grandma’s Last Birthday

Summers and Winters

The Silent Woman

The Mighty North

Never again

I am glad

When the night comes

Forever

Home at last

Tale of the Lonely Wind

I choose to remain in Autumn

PART II   POÈMES EN FRANÇAIS

Les Roses

Le Secret

Bohème

Quand on vole...

L’Ivresse

La Dégringolade

Fin

Moscou ‘92

Les poètes

Le Soupir

S’évader

Non, je ne suis pas d’ici

A l’est du soleil

Tu m’attendais...

Le Saut

Tristesse

La Célébration du Mariage de l’Opposés

La Mort m’attend à chaque coin de rue

Cette Pensée

La Mort en Automne

La Marche du Temps

Le Saule Pleureur

Sans crier gare

L’été indien

PART III   ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF

FRENCH POEMS

Roses    (Les Roses)

The Secret    (Le Secret)

Bohemian    (Bohème)

When we soar...    (Quand on vole...)

Intoxication    (Quand on vole...)

The tumble    (Le Dégringolade)

End    (Fin)

Moscow ‘92    (Moscou ‘92)

Poets    (Les Poètes)

The sigh    (Le Soupir)

To Escape    (S’évader)

No, I am not from here    (No, je ne suis pas d’ici)

To the East of the Sun    (A l’Est du Soleil)

You were waiting for me    (Tu m’attendais...)

The Leap    (Le Saut)

World Weary    (La Tristesse)

The Celebration of the Marriage of Opposites    (La célébration du mariage des Opposés)

Death awaits at every street corner    (La Mort m’attend a chaque coin de rue)

This Perception    (Cette pensée)

Death in Autumn    (La mort en autonme)

The March of Time    (La Marche du Temps)

The weeping willow    (Le Saule Pleurer)

Without Warning    (Sans crier gare)

Indian Summer    (L’été indien)

We are asleep. Our Life is a dream.

But we wake up sometimes,

just enough to know that we are dreaming.

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

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P ART I

English Poems

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T he Eleventh of May

Magic in the grove close by

Spring’s tenderest green

To lull the eye

Doth soothe the heart

The fevered brain

‘Til all is peace and joy again

I seek a magic grove — as this!

Where waters’ murmuring

Fills the air

Where all is green

So green! And still

Here wondrous thoughts appear at will

Intensely green! Beloved woodland!

All the greens

That ever were

In an opulence

Of shade and hue

As fragile life triumphs anew

Such incantation everywhere

Life’s sprung!

In green sheen has woven

A lacy canopy

O’er the head

Feet moss’s lush bed tread

Foliage rustling, quivers shimmering

Stirred by evening

Zephyr’s breath

Recalls to mind

The joys of yore

And all that’s ever gone before

Enchanted dell forever sought!

Wherein ethereal

Music floats

Spilling forth

In sundry streams

An all pervading, unseen scheme

To eternity — and on forever

I thought I glimpsed

The cryptic way

Yonder! Through the last

Lingering sunbeam

Once upon a dulcet dream

All falls silent, songbird’s hushed

Just dusk’s whispers

Just the trickling

Branches steadfast

Tree trunks’ black might

In the Eloquent Silence of the night

Sweet Lullaby, when day