Beware of Pity

(Ungeduld des Herzens*)

In homage to Stefan Zweig

             This blossomed tree grown crookèd on the hill

             an onshore wind espouses lest desire

             reveal that void – cathedral of the soul –

             whose hawk in spirals weaves a twisted spire. 

         Catherine Eisner 

 

*The Heart's Impatience, a powerful psychological study of emotional betrayal, is a 1939 novel by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and it was his longest work of fiction; published in English as Beware of Pity. The protagonist, a young lieutenant, moved by compassion is trapped into a tragic engagement to a wealthy heiress, wheelchair-bound and infatuated and overwhelmed by a make-believe romance than can never be realised.      

 

See also: Sternstunden, Toxic Pacts and the Silent Woman’s Tryst of Blood  https://catherineeisnerfrance.blogspot.com/2013/12/sternstunden-toxic-pacts-and-silent.html

         

Legend

Near lost the tide. We grazed the harbour wall.

Sheared bows. Half her good name the Devil tore

To goad our fears:

‘Bounty she is! No more The Bountiful!

Who tells on what Rock might you ground ashore?

And ask: Who steers?’

                                                                                Catherine Eisner