Shakespeare’s sonnet #71, re-Englished after Paul Celan’s German version without consulting the original:
By Pierre Joris
You should, once I’m gone, mourn only as long
as you hear the bell, the dark one, from the tower;
as long as it needs to tell the world:
He who lived with you went to live with the worms.
This I write, but you, having read it,
forget who wrote it. For look—I love you:
I wish I’d never been on your mind,
for when you think of me, sorrow steals upon you.
You should let—once your gaze rests upon these words,
once I’m dust, dust & no longer—
love become what I became,
and my name, do not speak it again:
The world, wise-eyed, already looks for your tears,
me, now gone, with you to taunt.
Copyright Credit: Pierre Joris, "Shakespeare's sonnet #71, re-Englished after Paul Celans German version without consulting the original:" from Interglacial Narrows: Homage to Celan. Copyright © 2023 by Pierre Joris. Reprinted by permission of the Pierre Joris Literary Estate.
Source: Interglacial Narrows: Homage to Celan (Contra Mundum, 2023)