I planted ivy at the foot of the wall
put a handful of rich soil in the stony ground
made a soft cradle for the roots
which will feel their way in the dark

I can see the ivy with my mind’s eye
growing high, flowing over the wall,
new twigs glistening with their first
green - Sprösslinge it rings in German
somewhere between my heart and mind
from a time when words
shot roots in things around
in the no-man’s land between languages