Look! there is a full moon now,
High up above the trees
Her blown up cheeks become round,
Teases you, causes grief.
And the worthless trickery
Dazzles and shines until
Your mind becomes again bright
And without apathy.
A car collects you - a blue
Carriage forged in magic -
And from the Earth it takes you,
That garage of pity.
You forget who you have been,
And with vague dreamy smile
You also leave years behind,
A distressing lifetime!
You glide thus in eternity,
Nearby there is nothing
But in happy airy silence
The unreality …
But then you wake up again
And with eyes wide open
You stare at the copper disk
Of the enormous Moon:
What an ugly, old clown!
Plays the happy dimwit
Before the tent of heaven
For myriad plus years.
His face is covered with paint,
But you can see beneath
Traces of deformed craters
Like pockmarks on gypsies.
Why is the resistance? Why?
Or no more important?
No more questions from the heart,
The one that has burned out?
From a robot - that’s his fate -
Creates magic and light,
Does not matter that inside
He’s ice, ancient twilight.
To shine forever - dictates
Thus a secret power.
It will be revealed later:
Reward or not, is there?
… How dwarfed it seems by all this
Your dismal, little life!
And slowly you feel sorry
For the tears you had spilled.
1927
Translated by: Maria Bencsath
