György Petri: I Would Like to Know (Szeretném tudni)

I would like to know why I am still around,
when no one here has any use of me.
I am rolling about like a worm in dust
without any future, homeland or spring.
I miss intensely the universalism,
if existed, I could be back on my feet.
I am guilty, I have worked very hard
on completely ruining my own paradise,
for I was too conceited, being a fool,
anything, I thought, I'd be able to do.
(Or rather, I thought, would I explode like a bomb?)
I don't know, I don't know... Pure reason?
Eats away at reality just like mould:
this much has it amounted to - pure reason.
And disgusted, had enough of ourselves:
our body is finished, above it floats the spirit.

Translated by: Maria Bencsath

György Petri: Pop-song (Sláger)

The great work, no doubt, is held off for good,
all the past years have taken their toll.
I've exploited myself with no mercy,
and I see now, the uselessness of it.

Futile is all that toilsome energy
with a machine of low efficiency.
And it is late: beyond fifty some years
you cannot make changes, you cannot change.

It is pointless to lament or be mad,
the desert of old age is now waiting,
the skin is wrinkling, the teeth are falling,
let's live a little bit before dying.

Translated by: Maria Bencsath

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