misssophieoftheupstairsaviary

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

In Lieu of Saying Goodbye 

I drew a dew-dropping heart on the window

And nobody knows to whom it belongs.

Take care of yourself — it may not be much 

But please don‘t forget what we have.

Our last embrace remains lost 

In the folds of our coats,

Now my glasses have fogged up

And my coat will smell of stale coffee for days.

I cannot remember you in my arms

And there is no-one to take the blame for it

But me, who let you vanish, distractedly—

Next year, I want to be more careful.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Im März

Angelehnt an's Nachtbahnfenster

Brennt mein rechtes Auge ungefähr

Vier Tränen lang

Als wär' das Denken an dich Zwiebelöl.

Die Schlehe blüht

Und morgen sind es achtzehn Grad

Ich atme tief und solch nachtkalter Blütenduft

Wird dieses Jahr der deine sein.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Spiegellos

Ich wohne in mir

Wie in einem Kloster

Ohne mich selbst zu betrachten

Ich weiß, wer ich bin

Mit nach außen gerichtetem Blick

Im Echo der Stimmen in meinem Gemäuer

Und meiner Reflexion in Anderer Augen

Mein Name ist nicht mehr Narzissa

Und ich habe mich selbst zur Schwester.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Licht aus

Willkommen im Bauch des Wals:

Im Nachleuchten sehe ich deine Liebe.

Platz für nichts, denn alles dicht an dicht:

Dunstschwaden, Chemie und 

sammetrote Balken Licht,

Dazwischen wir, in Dunkelheit gezwängt;

Das Rotlicht schmeckt nach deinen Lippen.

Zwischen unserem Atem

Pocht mein Herz hochfrequent

In die Löcher von Stille hinein.

Mein Leben lang war ich ein Negativ —

Entwickle mich in deinen Händen.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Nach dem Winterspaziergang

Hier sind die Wege mit Feenhaar gestreut,

Das ist wie meine verklärten Träume nachts  Ein Zeichen guter Luftqualität.

Am Fenster lehnst du,

Malst Herzen in den Hauch

Und an der Scheibe sitzen zwei Fliegen Im Präteritum und summen

Von Sommer, während draußen

Im Lichtkreis der einen Laterne

Der Schnee fällt.

Die Flocken so dick, Dass sie Schatten werfen

Auf den Boden dieser unentdeckten Welt.

Du drehst dich um und lächelst,

Wie schnell rieselt eigentlich Schnee?,

Und im Ofen atmet der Käse

Im Takt deines Herzschlags.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Keepsakes

The tip of my tongue is tingling still,

My secret souvenir of evidence: 

I was there,

You made us tea.

A trail of tiny feathers marks the path you took,

I pluck one from the passenger seat:

You were here,

We saw the world.

Like leftover locks round the bike rack,

I love what lingers of the story that nobody tells:

This moment in time was ours alone,

And only we will bear the mark.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Requiem for a Chameleon

The chameleon in my front yard is dying:

It‘s changing its hues,

Turns hotter and brighter but oh!

Where are the blues?

Its scales are floating on the breeze

And gathered close around its feet —

The coloured carpet will be home

To those alive, and yet alone.

Within a day, my friend is gone

Up in blushed mist, and here remains

A thought of life, just summer-long —

You‘ve never seen this, a chameleon‘s skeleton?

Some hermit, on a hollow night,

Whispers to me, when miracles are liquefied,

Of resurrection after winter‘s lull,

“Year after year, it gets more beautiful.”

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

The frost won't leave and so I drink

Four pints of tea a day,

In a big mug against

The absence of your hand in mine.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

wordy

— 2021 & 2022

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

the heart worm

— 2020

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Nebenjob (2021)

was ich mich frage, während ich ohne maske auf einem drehstuhl durch's labor kreisele:

wieverteilensichmeineaerosolewennichmichbeimatmenimkreisdrehe?

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Mon Hiver (2020)

Voilà, c'est le temps

De la neige qui tombe

Du ciel dormant.

Tu le caches sur ta langue,

Et je ne suis pas sûre

Qui est plus joli :

Toi, ou le flocon de neige ?

*

Et de temps en temps,

On se moque du printemps,

Quand l'éclat de lumière

Et beaucoup de bougies

Se reflètent vivement.

L'éclat danse sur les vitres

Et dans tes yeux brillants.

*

L'hiver, c'est le temps

Pour imaginer :

Nous faisons des plans,

Qu'est-ce qu'on fait en été ?

Tout est en suspens,

Tout semble possible

Et le monde s'offre à nous.

*

La fin d'année est hésitante

Quand, sans aucun but,

Nous cheminons dans les rues

Et l'amour flotte au vent.

Nous passons à côté des sapins,

Main dans la main,

Les mains dans les gants.

— 2020

#written for uni

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Precautions

"Gently, gently with my heart!",

she cried from floor thirteen.

"Don't drop it on the stairs, or worse,

and leave room in-between

my heart and all the other dirt

in your removal van."

— 2020

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Resurrection

Corpses are wandering the cemetery now,

Hand in bony hand with their beloved.

Their souls have long fled to Italy,

To paradise, to Liverpool, and Sicily.

What is left in soft embracing earth

Crawls out of tombs and

Reunites at last.

We stroll around lonely headstones,

Greet the cemetery gardener,

Then go for a walk under weeping willows.

— 2020

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

Up for Abduction

Here I am, breaking my own heart again But I want to go I will come quietly If only you‘ll take me

Up to your high castle or Into your deepest abyss, I could not care less But please let us go

Away from this and them and Everything that has pushed us down and All but torn us apart That we almost forgot the crucial part

I want to— I want so much that Others will find silly But you and I have secretly known for ever There is nothing more serious

Than wanting, and asking, and maybe being given. So here I am, begging you:

Answer my misdirected prayers, Please take me already.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

From the Observatory

I sit happily in the nest of potential

And scoff at those foolish enough to fling themselves over the

Edge and into the pit

Of blunt declarations and actions of brute love.

From up here, cushioned in soft pining,

I am safe and aloof

And throning aloft

Above coupled levity

And keep myself from common happiness.

[misssophieoftheupstairsaviary]

You Are a Thousand Women

The memory of you dances next to me

To music you would not care to understand.

You are the shy girl I met by the coast,

Who is drowning — by her own hand —

In shoes she is not large enough to fill.

You pass me by on High Street

And leave me to hush my silly heart that wishes it was you.

Instead, a woman who does not deserve my errant yearning

Leaves me reeling

And is none the wiser.