Second Best

Mirrors Ways Clouds Verses

Zweite Wahl

Spiegel Wege Wolken Verse

A bilingual book of poetry by Ram Tirtha

The poems of this collection largely originated between 2022 and 2024 and reflect on the deeper aspects of life. They are meditations on such juxtapositions as tradition and modernity, individuality and dependence, acceptance and criticism – concentrated in style, archaic in character, also fragmentary, multilayered. With the accompanying landscape photographs by the author, the book becomes a peregrination past experiences and insights.

The book will be published in 2025.

From the series Mirrors

why and whereto –
unending questions

entrusted to us are
the what and the how

~

Her elements nourish us,
her space shelters us,
her power heals us,
her silence guides us.

Who believes
we are stronger than her,
we could do like her,
we could do without her?

About the photos

Already since his time at school Ram Tirtha has photographed landscapes. Nature was always an important retreat for him. There he found distance, silence, and home. Thus the photos of the volume are not so much adornment or illustration but an expression of appreciation and veneration. They came into being during wanderings between 2013 and 2024, most of them in German low mountain ranges, 16 of them in the Black Forest alone. Two stem from the Netherlands, two from Austria, two from Canada and two from India. Some poems were inspired by individual photos.

Voices

"Your lyrics are great." A.S.

"The collection contains impactful lines delving into the duality of man and the lessons we can learn from our environment, histories, and society. To me, it was very thought-provoking and beautiful in its juxtapositions. Truly great work." M.

"The poems offer a deep exploration of life’s existential questions, wrapped in reflective, minimalist language. They meditate on universal themes, such as existence, identity, freedom, and the search for purpose. The language is simple yet potent, conveying complex ideas without elaborate wording. This minimalist style suits the themes well, evoking a sense of timelessness. The poem’s stanzas flow organically, with each section building on or contrasting with the last, creating a cohesive philosophical narrative." Ch.

"I loved the poems and enjoyed them, they are so precise and cryptic. The pictures and the lines are so beautiful and evocative." P.

"You search the depth of life, the poems convey this very beautifully." K.