Paul Celan: Tenebrae

In Tenebrae, Paul Celan speaks to the "Lord" as he refers to the "Herr".

But, he is not talking to God Almighty. The poem is directed to the Lord of the Concentration Camps.

The poem mentions the Lord's drunkenness in the blood that He shed:

"Wind-awry we went there,
went there to bend
over hollow and ditch.

To be watered we went there, Lord.

It was blood, it was
what you shed, Lord."

The poem also refers to the assassin's admission of His depravity:

"We have drunk, Lord.
The blood and the image that was in the blood, Lord."

 

This poem is an ode to the lifelessness and fruitlessness of the German's "Lord" of death...

. . .

 

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Tenebrae

We are near, Lord,
near and at hand.

Handled already, Lord,
clawed and clawing as though
the body of each of us were
your body, Lord.

Pray, Lord,
pray to us,
we are near.

Wind-awry we went there,
went there to bend
over hollow and ditch.

To be watered we went there, Lord.

It was blood, it was
what you shed, Lord.

It gleamed.

It cast your image into our eyes, Lord.
Our eyes and our mouths are open and empty, Lord.

We have drunk, Lord.
The blood and the image that was in the blood, Lord.

Pray, Lord.
We are near.