Tracy Ryan
Where is there for this inside
an outside? On what kind of ache
do we lay such linen?
What heaven’s reflected in this,
in the inland lake
of these open roses,
so insouciant: see
how at liberty and loose they are,
as if no trembling hand
could ever spill them.
They can hardly contain
themselves; many of them
are gorged and overflow
from their interior
into the days that ever more
fully close over till the whole summer
becomes a room, a room within a dream.
– Translation from the German of Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
Tracy Ryan is a Western Australian poet who has also lived for long periods overseas. Her most recent book of poems is The Water Bearer (Fremantle Press, 2018).