German is an amazing language - because it is so so Germanic it always ahs an inbuilt authority. I went to Oberammagau in 2000 and when Jesus was castigating the money changers for desicarating The Temple (His Father's House) He sounded much more authoritative in German than in English. When you recite German Poetry you have to really mean it to get the full efect. Even if you can't speak German try saying the following Haikus and you will see what I mean. German is reasonably phonetic - except that 'W' is pronounced as 'V'. Because of the sentence structure of the German Language the English translation does not follow line for line. Because they have a common source many words in Eglish and German are very similar so I am sure you will easily recognise which line matches which! <br /> <br />KUHLE LUFT WEHT AUF <br />DER KLANG DER ABENDGLOCKE <br />LANGE NOCH IM OHR <br /> <br />The cold wind blows <br />The sound of the evening bell <br />Still rings in my ear. <br /> <br />IM PUPPENWAGEN <br />GLANZEN ZWEI KASTNIEN <br />DAS MADCHEN STRAHLT <br /> <br />The little girl smiles <br />Two shiney conkers nestling <br />In her dollies pram! <br /> <br />DAS TROCKENE FLUSSBETT <br />FURHT NUR NOCH STEINE <br />NUR NOCH STEINE <br /> <br />Only stones flowing <br />In the dried-up river bed <br />Nothing but stones. <br /> <br />LAUTLOS KRAUSELT SICH <br />WASSER IM TEICH - IRGENDWO <br />LIBELLENSCHATTEN <br /> <br />On the rippled pond <br />Dragonfly shadows - silent <br />Solitary and spooky! <br /> <br />(John Knight - Colchester - November 2009)<br /><br />John Knight<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/1119-german-haiku/
