Nature Poem

By Nicolas Born
Translated by Sam Langer.

What pain to flow

what coldness to be alone with the enemy

what a task to blow nitrogen into the forest!

The silent action of the leaf-green in the green salad

the noisy action of the green salad inside us.

Has the dandelion gone out of our lives

the coltsfoot the grass harp?

What does the horse's flattened ear promise

what do the pains mean in the arms of the cleaning-woman

whose world has been in the toilet for twenty years?

Why are carnations such dumb flowers

so jaggedly crocheted

and why do I start dripping when I see tulips?

What's the low-flying swallow saying to me?

Who bites when the neighbour's dog growls

he or I or the neighbour?

What does it mean if I get a tip from a stranger 

and hastily leave the house?

If my father's eyebrows grow together overnight

and the subscription salesman's facial scar goes red

if the taxi driver looks in the mirror for so long

that his fare gets suspicious

and the roofer wants to put the boot into his apprentice

but realises too late that he's stepping into space

if the teenagers in the club for teenagers roll their eyes

after the fifth cola

if the starfighter pilot starts a long novel

during the flight-break

if the major shareholder eating beef stroganoff

finds a horsehoof in it

and the teller at Commerzbank

takes off with his wife's housekeeping money

after seeing “Viva Zapata”?

The calm before the storm

the thorn in the eye

the beam in the carpenter

hot love at 17

the investment manager's oath

ebb and flow

mini and maxi

and the public servant at social services

who leaves the office holding soap and a towel

when thirty people are queued up?

The car on Monday the knocked-over lake

the unusual way in which property develops itself

in the hand of the employee

those above

those below

the valley floor

the tightrope?

If I love you it snows on the earth

and if you leave me for my best friend 

then it is spring

and if you come back totally destitute 

it is autumn.

If nobody gives me something for nothing

do I therefore have money?

And what point is there as a dead man in having a book 

about archaeology under your pillow?

If it's true that there must be wars

then is it still important to take part in them?

Is it realistic if man and wife

decide to move in together after the wedding?

If she a year later throws her dowry 

at his head and he throws his 

rich vocabulary at hers

and if the window cleaner up on the IBM tower

falls under the spell of the punchcards

but then his survival instinct kicks in

and he jumps off at the last minute?

What does it mean that I make poems

and you make up all these stories?

Click here to listen to Nicolas Born reading this poem in German on Lyrikline.org.