Paul Celan (1920–1970), born in Romania, was a Jewish poet, translator, and Holocaust survivor, widely regarded as the greatest German-language poet of the late-twentieth century. His most famous poem, “Death Fugue,” is imbued with concentration camp imagery and is said to have elevated despondency to an art form. Ten poetry collections include The Sand from the Urns, The No-One’s Rose, and Lightduress. Celan suffered lifelong guilt over his parents’ deaths, having tried unsuccessfully to convince them to leave Ukraine ahead of the Nazis. He died by suicide.




Daniel Tobin is a translator and the author of five poetry collections, including Second Things and Belated Heavens, which won the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry. In addition he wrote the critical study Passage to the Center: Imagination and the Sacred in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney and a book of essays, Awake in America (2011). Tobin serves as the interim dean of the School of the Arts at Emerson College, Boston.

Only When

By Paul Celan, translated by Daniel Tobin

as a shadow
I arouse you
will you believe
the truth of my mouth

that scrabbles about
with fantasies
belated, in time’s
lofty piazzas
People on couch
To continue reading please sign in.
Join for free
Already a reader? Sign In