Midsummer

Roland Lüthi

[:de]Sonnenlicht macht gute Laune. Instinktiv spüren das auch viele Zürcherinnen und Zürcher, die in diesen Tagen in die Badeanstalten pilgern. Das Luftbild aus dem Fundus der Fotoagentur Comet zeigt das Naherholungsgebiet Katzensee.


Katzensee, Strandbad

Hans Krebs: Katzensee, Strandbad, August 1979 (ETH-Bibliothek, Bildarchiv, Com_FC31-0011-011)

Dazu und zur Jahreszeit passt das folgende Gedicht von William Bronk, das ich kürzlich im Roman 10:04 von Ben Lerner entdeckt habe:

 

MIDSUMMER

A green world, a scene of green deep
with light blues, the greens made deep
by those blues. One thinks how
in certain pictures, envied landscapes are seen
(through a window, maybe) far behind the serene
sitter’s face, the serene pose, as though
in some impossible mirror, face to back,
human serenity gazed at a green world
which gazed at this face.

                                              And see now,
here is that place, those greens
are here, deep with those blues. The air
we breathe is freshly sweet, and warm, as though
with berries. We are here. We are here.
Set this down too, as much
as if an atrocity had happened and been seen.
The earth is beautiful beyond all change.

 

© 1955 William Bronk[:en]Sunlight makes us happy. Numerous inhabitants of Zurich feel this instinctively and flock to the open air baths. The aerial photograph from the holdings of the photo agency Comet shows the recreation area Katzensee near Zurich.

Katzensee, Strandbad

Hans Krebs: Katzensee, August 1979 (ETH Library, Image Archive, Com_FC31-0011-011)

The image corresponds well with the following poem from William Bronk which I discovered recently in Ben Lerner’s Novel 10:04.

MIDSUMMER

A green world, a scene of green deep
with light blues, the greens made deep
by those blues. One thinks how
in certain pictures, envied landscapes are seen
(through a window, maybe) far behind the serene
sitter’s face, the serene pose, as though
in some impossible mirror, face to back,
human serenity gazed at a green world
which gazed at this face.

                                              And see now,
here is that place, those greens
are here, deep with those blues. The air
we breathe is freshly sweet, and warm, as though
with berries. We are here. We are here.
Set this down too, as much
as if an atrocity had happened and been seen.
The earth is beautiful beyond all change.

 

© 1955 William Bronk[:]

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