György Petri: À propos Bach

“Komm süsser Tod!”
That is: dessert is next!
Having had stuffed ourselves
with lifelong sad feasts:
namely: marriages, divorces,
children, grand-children and “other supplements”.
Now on the Death-cake,
the one who blows the candles
all at once, will win his deserved
reward: a heart failure.
The grave, like motherly arms, has been waiting
for a long time to take him back.
(I know, this punch line sputters, like fat,
however, I am the crackling,
and death has come to get me now, death has cracked me down!)

Translated by: Maria Bencsath