In my youth the world was a small pond, Grandma and red roof, lowing Of oxen and a clump of trees. And all around the huge green meadow. How lovely was this dreaming into distance. This absolute nothingness as bright air and wind And bird cries and fairy-tale books. Far off the fabled iron snake whistled-- Summer Freshness The sky is like a blue jellyfish. And all around are fields, rolling meadows-- Peaceful world, you great mousetrap, Would that I might finally escape from you.. O if I had wings-- One plays dice. Guzzles. Chatters about future countries. Each person puts in his own two cents. The earth is a succulent Sunday roast, Nicely dunked into a sweet sun-sauce. If only there were a wind... that ripped The gentle world with iron claws. That would amuse me. But if a storm comes... It would shred The lovely blue eternal sky into a thousand pieces. Afternoon, Fields and Factory I can no longer find a place for my eyes. I cannot hold my legs together. My heart is hollow. My head is going to burst. Mushiness all around. Nothing wants to take shape. My tongue breaks. And my mouth twists. In my skull there is neither pleasure nor goal. The sun, a buttercup, rocks itself On a chimney, its slender stalk. Rainy Night The day is ruined. The sky is drunk. Like false pearls, little stumps Of chopped up light lie around and reveal A glimpse of streets, a few clumps of houses. Everything else is rotten and devoured By a black fog, which, like a wall, Falls down and is rotten. And the rain Crumbles like rubble in the grip--thick--gray-- As though the whole contaminated darkness Wanted at every moment to sink. Down in a swamp you see an auto flash, Like a strange, drunken plant. The oldest whores come crawling Along out of wet shadows--tubercular toads. There goes one creeping by. Over there a pig is being stabbed. The gushing rain wants to wipe out everything. But you are wandering through the waste lands. Your dress hangs heavy. Your shoes are soaked. Your eye is mad with greed and screaming. And this urges you on--and you have no peace: Perhaps in the midst of dark fire The devil himself appears in the form of a pig. Perhaps something completely horrible, Foolish, brutal, nasty is happening. Period The deserted streets flow in gleaming light Through my dull head. And hurt me. I clearly feel that I shall soon slip away-- Thorny roses of my skin, don't prick like that. The night grows moldy. The poison light of the lampposts Has smeared it with green muck. My heart is like a bag. My blood freezes. The world is dying. My eyes collapse. Reflecting upon a Human Lung in Alcohol