Peter Kremer (1901-1989)Peter Kremer
Butterflies (1985)
In our poisoned nature, God's most delicate creatures will die out first: The butterflies and the meadow flowers. (M. Heidecker)
...It flies as silently as only a butterfly can when its tumbling wings sway, like a waving flower. (Hans Leifhelm)
Excerpt from Kremer, 1985 - Schmetterlinge. Original language: German.
With the kind permission of the Eifelverein.
Gustav Falke (1853-1916)Gustav Falke
The Camberwell Beauty (1902)
A lonely poppy glowed at the edge of the ditch,
A butterfly fluttered around it in trembling circles.
A Camberwell Beauty. The land lay sunny,
The only shadow was the black wing
Of the dark juggler there, who flew around the glow
Of the red poppy, a dreamlike creature.
And gradually it seemed to me as if the blood
Was draining from the flower's cheeks; it withdrew
Paling, wilting, collapsing into itself,
But still around the extinguished flames
The black wings twitched until a wind
That ran across the path carried them away into the field.
Was I blinded by the light, by the fluttering of wings?
Was it a sleep, a dream that touched me,
Created in that purple chalice, which now
Flamed as before, summer-hot embers?
Nothing. A ghost. An illusion. And yet, in the end,
A slight chill remained in my blood,
And when I drank with my friends in the evening,
Bringing a cheerful end to a cheerful day,
I spoke of autumn and death; but they laughed
And cheerfully clinked glasses. A glass shattered.
Excerpt from Falke, 1902 - Hohe Sommertage: Neue Gedichte. Translation: DeepL - Translator. Original language: German.
Thanks to Walter HerrmannWalter Herrmann for pointing out this poem.
Ferdinand von Saar (1833-1906)Ferdinand von Saar
The Camberwell Beauty (1888)
Spread out the serious splendour of the wings,
Are you approaching, melancholy beautiful butterfly,
Like the flowers in a dream,
Which, glowing in a fragrant blaze of colour,
Adorning the last days of summer
And the garden's dwindling greenery.
Slowly you sway
In sunny air
From flower cup to flower cup –
But in no way
You lower yourself down.
Is it,
As if you shy away from the more colourful comrades,
Sucked here and there
And, immersed in the bliss of pleasure,
Not respecting yours.
One more time
You circle the wide flowerbed –
Then, high swing,
You flutter away into the nearby thicket,
Where spruce twigs
Light-trunked birch trees darken.
I gaze after you, thinking,
You dark winged one!
Oh, how so very
Does my soul resemble you,
The one in gentle melancholy,
Deeply desiring and yet full of renunciation,
About life
Holden promises hovering –
To always
Flee back
In lonely shadows.
Excerpt from von Saar, 1888 - Gedichte. Original language: German.
Henry Gardiner Adams (1811-1881)Henry Gardiner Adams
Beautiful Butterflies: Camberwell Beauty (1854)
1'Auld lang syne': Scottish ballad published in 1711 by James Watson and made famous in the adaptation by Robert Burns.
2The Drachenfels is a mountain in the Siebengebirge mountains near Bonn.
Excerpt from a quote by H. G. Adams with unclear author (mentioned source: The Naturalist) Adams, 1854 - Beautiful Butterflies: The British Species described and illustrated with an introductory chapter containing the History of a Butterfly through all its changes and transformations.