Mix-up with Consequences
or
The Murder of a Duck
On a Pond swims a Duck,
ashore waits shooter's gun
while ducky dives
the bullet jives
straight at a tree
into a deer.
High up in the tree the hunter sits
for weekends and a week
to get the darling deerling.
His shot goes far afield
a coo coo egg the yield,
which placed into a magpie’s nest
ticks off the mother bird,
who cracks an egg, one of her best.
Replacement is a stolen ring
out of gold not cheaply tin,
therefore its owner real mad
wants to kill and is not sad.
And once again a hunter hunts,
a shooter shoots the duck,
who was quite out of luck !
Bernhard 02.11.02 for all innocently killed
ducks in this world.
Including J.F.K. and Harvey Lee Oswald
Translated by Sybille
Everything natural in life
occasionally does not work out,
just so it can happen again
naturally at some other time.
Except of course for the pant zipper
which does not close just then.
Which means that naturally
hunger pangs reign
and a bratwurst is the only thing
that would be satisfying.
That is totally natural
and anyone knows that.
And of course the weight
rises quite naturally,
everyone knows that too.
Everything is totally natural
and so this problem
gets regulated naturally
until, of course, the pant
fits again naturally.
Of course one could just
buy another better fitting pant,
because everything natural
occasionally does not work out
so that it can happen again
another time quite naturally.
Bernard
February 2003,Translated by Sybille
Good Morning or the Chain reaction
When the day already starts idiotically,
wants to force its will on me,
barely out of bed
and cut while shaving twice, damn,
oh yes, and spilled the water bowl,
of course onto yesterdays freshly waxed floor,
tore the hanger from the towel,
after that cut a nail to painful shortness,
forgot the cigarette of course,
therefore a hole in the tablecloth,
ran out of toilet paper,
noticed only after it was too late,
and any minute now it is 7 am,
good bye bus,
as always the socks are lost,
and where is the fresh shirt,
quickly burned my trap
on the much too hot coffee,
finding the old pant button
to barely hang on to a thread,
and if it falls off
I really have had it,
hit toe in total hectic
at corner of table leg,
pored the rest of the coffee
all over the place,
Letter from the tax department
soaked in it damn it all
I really have had it now,
the button IS coming off!
A very good morning!
Bernhard anytime
Translated by Sybille
Love is Love
It's no more than Lust,
Weakness defends itself;
while Hope insists
it is Love.
Wrong. It is only Urge
insists Reason.
But perhaps it is love afterall
says Fickleness.
Yes, it is Love
but only Love,
explains Strength.
No, Love is only Longing for Warmth
remembers Forgetfulness.
Love is Life,
swears Willingness.
Love is too dangerous,
offers Caution.
Love is Nature,
feels Realisation;
and unfathomable,
says Experience.
Love is Love
and nothing else but Love,
says Love.
Bernard
Translated by Sybille
Gifts are there for giving,
the given is a gift,
some of which are strangely strange,
and some are sheer deranged.
A third one is quite wonderful,
a fourth is not to be believed.
Then there is one that is obscene,
and two and three for dust, not sheen;
The one we wanted most of all,
was to take the friend, the tall,
light-hearted for a husband;
Those that need to be passed on,
received and given someone else
while unpleasantly effected-
then stand around among
the nick and nack collected.
Most everyone knows brandy beans
turn up as well-meant gifts,
to spoil oneself and others,
unfortunately dried out,
annoying you and mothers.
And otherwise remember-
though gifts are kitschy, loud-
a gift horse simply never
ever has an open mouth.
Bernard
Translated broadly/rewritten...Sybille, Feb 12. 2003