Current mood:

snowy monday studying

translated from the German by Mandy Cohen
Couple at the Window

This is Sunday morning;
for fun we lean
out the window, lazily
watching the street.
The sun shines. Life flows.
A small dog, a plump child...
We have found ourselves here
for days, weeks, months
and for hours--for hours.

I, the man, don't think of me.
Today I stay home,
today I won't go to the office--
...though the taxes still need to be done...
What time? I don't exactly know.
She is a woman to me,
I feel bound to her
for days, weeks, months
and for hours--for hours.

I, the woman, am glad to be with him.
We don't speak of marriage.
But one day I want him
to be fully, completely tied to me.
The plump woman on the balcony next to us
gives her child a candy
and plays with her dog...
that should be my life, someday--
not only for hours--for hours.

A current connects us, mind to mind;
we are still an adventure.
One day we could part,
and another would come...a new one...
Or we could stay together forever;
our wild flames would be extinguished,
habit would be where love once was.
And only in rare seconds
would memory flash on that beautiful year,
and on hours--on happy hours.

-Kurt Tucholsky