Sonnets by Josef Maria Mayer
TO MOTHER NIGHT
I
It was a
night, no star on heaven was to be seen,
When I with
my heart full of the longing of love
(Oh grace!
How awesome and beautiful you are!)
Went
totally unseen out of my silent house.
In the
security of the silent darkness
I went the
steps down from my door to the street
(Oh grace!
How awesome and beautiful you are!)
My house
stood silent in the obscurity of the night.
Joyful
night, where I alone in the secret
Stood watching,
no man and no woman saw me.
I did not
look at any human being,
The only
guide I had, was Love in my heart!
Love guided
me better than the sun. I knew him!
Love
awaited me, where no-one appeared!
II
Mother
night has united Love and his nymph!
The beautiful
nymph had been transformed into Love!
On the
breasts of the nymph –ah – Love lay sleeping!
She
caresses the transcendental body of Love!
Soft
breezes blew – the nymph caresses his body,
She parted
his hair, he wounded her heart by his arrow!
With his
finger he made mad her senses!
She
abandoned her own soul and forgot her ego!
Love and
his nymph lay tenderly breast to breast,
She directs
the looks of her eyes to his face.
All things
ceased. She went out of her soul.
All her
cares are drowned in his fire!
The nymph
forgot herself in the bed of roses,
In the bed
of thorns united with Love!
ON BURNING LOVE
I
O living
flame of Love who wounds my soul!
O tender
wounds of my soul in its deepest centre!
Oppress me,
holy Love, if this is your will:
Tear down
the veil of your face, O Charity!
Delightful
are my wounds like glossy pearls.
O gentle
hand of Love! O delicate
touch!
I taste the
sweetness of eternity!
In killing
me you changed my death to life!
O holy lamp
of fire of Love in whose splendour
The deepest
grotto of my sensual feeling
(Once
obscure and blind in spiritual darkness)
Now gives
forth a light so warm and clear
To the
Psyche, the well-beloved of Love!
Psyche
herself become a light from the Light!
II
How gentle
and how lovingly, blessed Love,
You wake in
my heart, you wake day and night.
In the
morning you are a breath of new life
And at
midnight you are sweet intimacy.
In the
secret of my heart you dwell
Alone, O
godly Love, and no one else.
I feel your
anthem breathing in my anthem.
Breeze
again, breeze again, I sigh!
Your breath
is filled with goodness and with glory,
And so you
are inspiring my songs of love.
Now my
heart and all my senses are swelling
With
burning desire, inspired by the God of Love!
Take my
swelling heart and transform it totally
That I
become a charity in Charity!
LOVE AND PSYCHE
I
PSYCHE
SINGS
Where have
you hidden, beloved, your beautiful body,
And left me
mourning in my solitude?
You fled
like a stag in the forest after wounding me,
I went out
calling you, but you were gone.
O pastors
in the sheepfolds on the hill,
If by lucky
chance you see my beloved,
The holy
God of Love whom I love most,
Tell him I
am sick of love, I suffer, I die!
Seeking my
beloved God of Love,
I will
wander to the waterside.
I will not
gather crocuses, tulips and roses,
I will not
fear the barking dogs on the streets.
I will go
beyond strong men and frontiers
Till I find
the soul of my beloved.
II
PSYCHE
SINGS
Woods,
planted by the hand of my beloved,
O ye green
meadows full of the leaves of grass,
Green
gardens, shining bright with crocus and tulip,
Tell me,
has my beloved passed by you?
Pouring out
a thousand lovely graces,
He passed
this woods and meadows and gardens in haste,
And having
looked at the woods and meadows and gardens,
He clothed
them all in the cloth of his perfect beauty.
Ah! Whose
spirit has the power to heal me?
Do not send
me any more messengers!
They can
not tell me what I thirst to hear!
Now wholly
reveal yourself in evidence,
Reveal the
evidence of your godly body
And let me
consume the flesh of your godly body!
III
PSYCHE
SINGS
All the
people who see you tell me marvels,
Tell me
thousand graceful things of your beauty,
They wound
me and leave me dying in my desire!
Oh, there
is I-don’t-know-what in their whispering!
How can
life endure without lively love?
I am nearly
brought to death by your arrows!
What do I
conceive of my beloved?
A wounded
heart full of desolation!
You have
wounded my heart with wounds of love,
Why don’t
you heal my heart with tenderly smiles?
You have
stolen my heart out of my bosom,
Why do you
leave my bosom so desolate, lonely?
Why do you
fail to caress my wounded bosom?
Why do you
fail to embrace my lonely body?
IV
PSYCHE
SINGS
Take away
from me this misery,
No-one else
than you can resolve my soul!
May my eyes
behold your perfect beauty,
You are the
light of my eyes, you are my anthem!
Reveal your
presence in the midst of my life!
When I see
your beauty, I must die!
The
sickness of my heart can be cured only
By the
presence of your body and blood!
O fountain
of Love! In the silver dew of your face
You may
suddenly form the blue-eyed look
Of your
eyes I have desired with passion,
Your look I
bear in the midst of the depth of my heart!
Do not look
further on my body, beloved,
Cause I am
bewitched by the charm of the flash in your eyes!
V
LOVE SINGS
Return, my
dove, return, my pigeon!
I was the
wounded stag on the hill in the wood,
But now the
dove of love is came back to me,
My hot
desire is cooled by the breeze of your wings.
PSYCHE
SINGS
O my
beloved, the mountains and the valleys,
And the
blue islands in midst of the ocean,
The mighty
rivers, streaming through the vineyards,
The murmur
of the love-stirring breezes of Zephyrus,
The deep
tranquillity and the trance of the night,
The silent
music and sounding solitude,
The dreams
at time of the rising dawn at morn,
The vision
of love’s union in morning dreams,
All this is
united in the supper,
That
refreshes and deepens the love of the heart.
VI
PSYCHE SINGS
Catch us
the foxes, the little foxes, beloved,
For our
southern vineyard is now in flower.
The tulips
come out of mother earth in spring-time.
It is sweet
to wander in the pine-wood.
Away, you
bitter-blasting north-wind of winter,
But come, o
south-wind, and blow in my garden!
Breath, o
south-wind, and let my fragrance flow,
My beloved
will feed amid the tulips.
Stay away,
young maidens of the city,
While among
the tulip and the crocus
The
fragrance of my body spreads its perfume,
Stay away,
young girls, in the streets of the city,
O women, do
not ask to touch my household,
Where I am
together with my beloved.
VII
PSYCHE
SINGS
Hide
yourself, my beloved friend,
Turn your
face to the clouds and do not speak,
Do not look
at those strange and cold companions,
They feel
not the fire of love in their frozen hearts!
LOVE SINGS
Swift-winged
sparrows and robins in the bushes,
Roaring
stags on the hills and roes in the woods,
Mountains
and valleys and streams in the vineyard,
Ocean and
storm and loneliness in the night:
By the
golden lyre of Apollo and
The
whispering of the Muse, I conjure you:
O world, be
silent and touch not the walls of the house,
That my
girlfriend may sleep in deeper peace!
O bride of
my soul, sleep well and dream something sweet,
Like I have
dreamt a dream of your beauty last night.
VIII
LOVE SINGS
The
beautiful girlfriend has entered the garden
Of her
desire, and she rests in delight,
Laying her
goose-neck on the gentle arm
Of her
beloved, the soul-mate of her heart.
Beneath the
apple tree who stood in flowers
I took you
for my own, beloved girlfriend,
And I
restore your soul and inner heart
Under the
apple tree where your mother conceived you.
PSYCHE
SINGS
Our bed of
mystical marriage is in flower,
The roaring
lions surround our bridal bed,
Purple
linen deck our marriage bed
And our
chamber is built up in peace.
We are
crowned with thousand shields of gold,
We are
crowned with the marriage crowns.
IX
PSYCHE SINGS
PSYCHE SINGS
Following
your footsteps, beloved friend,
Young girls
run with you the way in the city.
The touch
of a spark of light and the wine at night
Is like the
flowing balsam of my God.
In the
chamber I drink the wine of my friend,
And when I
went abroad through all the streets,
I no longer
know anything, beloved,
And I lost
the community which I was following.
My beloved
gave me his motherly breast,
He taught
me a sweet and living knowledge and wisdom.
I gave
myself to him, keeping nothing back,
I told him
all the mysteries of my soul.
I promised
to be his soul-mate and mystical bride
And he
said: No-one is more beautiful than you!
