by Alexan­dra Seidel

[Bei Nacht und Nebel schle­ichen Dämonen
durch die Gassen, reck­en sich und
suchen Blut]

*_At night, in fog, demons creep
through alleys, stretch their mus­cles and
go look­ing for blood._

(At night, demons come out to dance.)

This city is ours
as much as it is nobody's.
Out in the woods
the man­drake sings with lily voice
and on the cob­bles, fires burn
pyres high as hate.
Pad­dock, come anon.
This rose is not a rose
no mat­ter what you call it.

[Bei Nacht sind alle Katzen grau.]

*_At night all cats are gray._

(All things are black at night,
the night is black all over.)

The lit­tle girl was called Rowan.
She should have been baptized
in water, not drowned in it.
Every­one watched, everyone
called for the water to take her voice.
Everyone
took a stone back home
some­times the stone would fit so smugly
where it dragged, that they nev­er even noticed it,
not for years.

The night was black all over
and the demons, wide eyed,
danc­ing in the streets.

[Bei Nacht, bei Nacht, hat das ganze Dorf
dem Teufel sein Kind tot gemacht.]

*_At night, at night, the whole village
mur­dered the devil's child._

---

Alexan­dra Sei­del lives sur­round­ed by many books. Some say she has too many of them, but those crit­ics aren't right of course. Things Alexan­dra wrote her­self may be found in Jab­ber­wocky, Strange Hori­zons, Bull Spec and oth­ers. Late­ly she has tak­en up edit­ing poet­ry for Fan­tas­tique Unfet­tered and Nite­blade. Read her feline writer's blog: www.tigerinthematchstickbox.blogspot.com

Filed under: Jabberwocky 9