The speech is followed

by silent applause, the hands --


just raise the glasses.

The spinal column

of an extinct animal:


staircase on the beach.

The sprinkles may crawl

into the roll, the yellow --


ones especially.

I see the late and the early
people in lighted rooms
where the curtains are not closed

I see men in the twilight
penumbra of the morning
talking on the benches

in the circle of the square
that then starts singing
in the trees that live there

Everything keeps going on
from yesterday to tomorrow
without beginning and end

There is no direction
everything's going by itself
its divine way

The square is so full

of tourists, and so empty --


of life like back then.

The squatting men place

the spittoon further away --


and aim into it.

The starless star shines

brightly for the followers –


of superstition.

The star-spattered sky:

a royal mantle wrapped –


around Mother Earth.

The statues destroyed,

temples without a roof, gods --


that are still alive.

The stories I tell

are too thick, too big, too wide --


You can see the lies.

The storm growls and howls

through splits in the hollow wall --


like a house *****.

The storm sweeps away

everything, there is nothing --


just a shoreless sea.

The street is cheerful,

listen, spring sings within me –


I am outside in.

The study takes years,

so it easily will take --


me even longer.

The sun goes down and

comes up again, endlessly --


I lived, as a child.

The sun is setting,

from the water there's darkness --


rising everywhere.

The sunlight breaks through:

at once the meadow is lit –


by bright buttercups.

The sun sets faster,

so the days become shorter --


More time for the moon.

The sun takes a stand

in the middle of the street --


breathing burning hot.

The sun wakes me right

in my face: impossible!


Is the earth tilted?

The survey presents

me seven faces, please check:


How do you feel now?

In the evening I like to walk
through the streets, looking
at the people in their houses
and then I wonder who
I would like to swap with

and what kind of swap that would be
What do I give and what do I get?
A soul for a soul, maybe
not to keep forever
but, who would want mine

with all its consequences?
Of course I don't get an answer
A bird on a street-lamp
is looking at me, it's night
so it doesn't sing

whether it's free or captive
it doesn't sing, because it's night
But we're not alone now
and I'd like to swap with it
Yes, I did

The tables are set,

we are care-free, nervously --


our feast has begun.

The table top is

sticky, the handle too, I'll --


better wash my hands?

The talking falters,

that's why I burn poplar wood --


that always crackles.

The tall man is dressed

in nothing, nothing but ties --


So superior!

The tall sunflowers

are warming their high shoulders --


in the evening sun.

The tear in her eye

gives me enough certainty:


she does long for me!

The tears of her heart

sizzle in the tamped ashes –


of her loneliness.

The tempest tears roofs

away from attic secrets --


devours people's pasts.

The tension is gone:

it's important, or it's not --


and now it comes out.

That holiday: storm,

rain -- I so wish it could be


that bad one more time!

The thundersea foams,

I rest and the sun dries me --


with its softest hand.

The timpani warm

up, gently stirring the voice --


in their big bellies.

The tin drum throws me

back into my childhood days --


everything's in it.

The toad is looking

for water, its moist **** smells --


like warm silage grass.

The tomcat returns,

step by step in his own track –


of paws in the snow.

The tones are dancing,

tumbling across each other –


never falling down.

The tones, gracefully

rising to the better one:


my whistling-kettle.

The torch shining in

the cesspit, on the masses --


of rising maggots.

The torrent tumbling

friskily over itself --


soppies the valley.

The trail I chose for

was the greenest of the two –


because I thought so.

It happened by itself
the training of my body
to eat, ****, and sleep
at set times, the limits

that punish me
if I pass them
to consciously enjoy
the freedom that I didn't have

as a baby, when I was still purely
an observer of the world
a stormy place of rest
a heaven of the limits

heaven of the constellations
that I drew, my maps
of the intertwined patterns
around me, the limits

of what I knew, of what I know
safe walls with windows
if I want to go further
in my meditation

We have ordered musicians
but can we pay them?
Give them some tea

.....Listen, the trees are falling
.....Lovely, the sound of axes
.....cutting down the orchard

.....The times are changing
.....Play! I want to celebrate!
.....You can leave after that

I don't know, I want to go
Why have we grown so old?
I remember everybody

was happy, without knowing
why, didn't we discuss it
time after time! It is over

We'll die anyway
while life goes on
as if we have never lived

We have ordered musicians
but can we pay them?
Give them some tea

.....Listen, the trees are falling
.....Lovely, the sound of axes
.....cutting down the orchard

.....The times are changing
.....play! I want to celebrate!
.....you can leave after that

I don't know, I want to go
why have we grown so old?
I remember everybody

was happy, without knowing
why, didn't we discuss it
time after time! It is over

we'll die anyway
while life goes on
as if we have never lived

The trees in winter:

no pigeons, no bullfinches --


the nests breaking down.

The treetops shake off

the mist, they're getting colour --


with mass, and a trunk.

Anatomy is simple
there are billions of examples
of women like me

reproduction chambers
in a sturdy pelvis
bowels full of building blocks around it

That is the round core
of my body, my existence
Two mighty legs underneath

to get the food
and a thin superstructure
for support services

I'm used to it, I learned
to like it, that's the trick
of ***

The rest is also imagination
my ethics and my civilization
Together with you, I believe in it

The truth in the lie

must be recognizable --


or the lie won't work.

The tuba stays here,

I can't play it anymore --


this very last time.