(Breitenberg, Neuweiler-Hofstett, Germany, 2010)
Shaggy firs, like long-lost friends,
Shelter me from pelting rain;
Birches shivering in chill winds
Numb me to my own dumb pain,
While purple clover, fresh-mown hay,
Apple trees that bow with red-
Gold suns for yet another day,
Lull me to an early bed.
I wake at dawn and long for home.
The room is plain; the sky, although
A glad blue, gleams with alien glow,
As cold to human sight as chrome.
Yet when my Heimweh shows no cease,
I head to the woods and find a strange peace.
William Ruleman’s most recent collections of poetry include From Rage to Hope (White Violet Books, 2016) and Salzkammergut Poems and Munich Poems (both from Cedar Springs Books, 2016). His translations of Hermann Hesse’s Early Poems (also Cedar Springs Books) and Stefan Zweig’s Clarissa (Ariadne Press) were published in 2017. More about him can be found at his website: www.williamruleman.com.
Foxglove Journal 