Midsummer

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.

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