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Kendra Preston Leonard

words, mostly for or about music

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Women in Horror Month: Gretchen at the Loom/Gretchen am Webstuhl

“Gretchen” is from GRAB.

Gretchen at the Loom/Gretchen am Webstuhl
after Goethe

Meine Ruhe my peace
my mind mein
warp warping
weft
bereft
wept
my peace is gone
meine
meine
my
mine.
shuttle, shuttling
shut
I shut the door,
the door he walked through,
I shut it on

him, he is gone
to the grave.
Life is like that grave,
das Grab
but it is mine.
weave, pull, pass
pass
He has passed
away, and

auch
my life, my heart.

Mein Grab.

Das Grab. /ɡʁaːp/

Grab. /ɡɹæb/
I could not grab him from death.
Meine Herz my heart
im Grab
no peace

noch
in der Nacht,

…I could weave
him back from the
Zauberfluss,
the magic river
jordan, styx, sanzu, yawar mayu

he travels on,
going to a final,
elysian
place.

I am
with my yearning
mein Herz,
the weight of my heart
weaving his smile.
batten, press, push down
his face,
sein Herz,
his body

I weave
batten, batter, bat, batten, bats
sehr schnell, sehr schnell
faster-faster.

I yearn for

the touch of his hand,
sein Händedruck
touch, no—

oh
no

no,
so cold

no, no—
push, batter, push away
what did I do
no
so kalt!
Er ist so kalt,
die Kälte der Toten!
pull, press, undo
cut!
Cut!
His spirit has terrible
power,
kalt und
dunkel
dark
what have I—

Bin ich verrückt?
My mind lost?
hilf mir!

Break down the loom,
he must go on,
do not let his spirit
stay
entangled in my
weaving,
his phantom eyes

cut the threads
cutting, cutting
staring
at me.

Go to peace,
return to der Zauberfluss,

I will have
keine Ruhe,
mein
my
mind

ist zerstückt
fragmented,
shattered,
shatter the loom, the frames,
I beg you burn it all
keine Ruhe,
no peace.

I should not have thought
to see him again,
please,
keep cutting
Ich finde meine Ruhe nie
nie
never
there will never
be
peace
in the loom
looming
I lose
in my
mein
my mind.

Posted in Uncategorized on 2026-03-09 by Kendra Leonard.

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Book reviews: 5/5 for breastfeeding vampires, a grandmother’s secret, a hellish heist, and a place of power
Farewell to Yaddo
Winter Goddess, Give Me Your Hands
Book reviews: Horror, Homer, History
The Harbingers (2024)

Search

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