Nelly Sachs (December 10, 1891 – May 12, 1970) was a Jewish German poet and playwright.
Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokeswoman for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews. Her best-known play is Eli: Ein Mysterienspiel vom Leiden Israels (1950); other works include the poems “Zeichen im Sand” (1962), “Verzauberung” (1970), and the collections of poetry In den Wohnungen des Todes (1947), Flucht und Verwandlung (1959), Fahrt ins Staublose (1961), and Suche nach Lebenden (1971).
BUT PERHAPS GOD NEEDS THE LONGING
Nelly Sachs
But perhaps God needs the longing, wherever else shall it dwell,
Which with kisses and tears and sighs fills mysterious spaces of air –
And perhaps is invisible soil from which roots of stars grow and swell –
And the radiant voice across fields of parting which calls to reunion there?
O my beloved, perhaps in the sky of longing worlds have been born of our love –
Just as our breathing, in and out, builds a cradle for life and death?
We are grains of sand, dark with farewell, lost in births’ secret treasure trove,
Around us already perhaps future moons, suns, and stars blaze in a fiery wreath.
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LOVERS ARE SHIELDED
Nelly Sachs
Lovers are shielded
Beneath the bricked-up dome of heaven.
A secret element gives them breath
And they carry the stones into blessing
And everything that grows
Has its home with them alone.
Lovers are shielded
And for them alone the nightingales beat
And have not yet died out in deaf ears
And the forest’s soft legends, the deer,
Suffer in mild meekness for them.
Lovers are shielded
They find the hidden
Pain of the evening sun
Bleeding on a willow twig –
And smiling night after night they practice dying,
That quiet death
With all its sources streaming
Into longing