I’d like to share the poem „My breath“ by Rose Ausländer with you. Rose Ausländer was a Jewish poet from the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1901-1988) who often wrote about the bare essentials of life, which, of course, include breathing. She dedicated a whole volume of poetry to the breath, called “Atemhaus” (The House of Breath).
I’ve translated the poem “My breath” for you here, with the original below:
My breath In my deep dreams the earth cries blood stars smile into my eyes
when people come
with multi-coloured questions
go to Sokrates
I answer them
The past
has written me as a poem
I have inherited the future
My breath is called
now
—
Mein Atem
In meinen Tiefträumen
weint die Erde
Blut
Sterne lächeln
in meine Augen
Kommen Menschen
mit vielfarbigen Fragen
Geht zu Sokrates
antworte ich
Die Vergangenheit
hat mich gedichtet
ich habe die Zukunft geerbt
Source: Rose Ausländer, Sämtliche Gedichte, Fischer Taschenbuch, 2012