translated by Donald Revell

Annie

On the coast of Texas

Between Mobile and Galveston there is

A big garden filled with roses

There is also a mansion

It is one big rose

A woman walks there often

All alone in the garden

And when I cross the lime-tree road

We are face to face

Because she is a Mennonite

Her roses and her clothing have no buttons

My jacket is missing two buttons

The lady and I are almost one religion

***

Saltimbanques

In flatlands the acrobats

Escape through the gardens

Through drunken hotel exits

Through churchless towns

The children guide them

Others follow in a dream

When the acrobats call them

Even the orchards surrender

The acrobats have all the equipment

Tambourines barbells golden hoops

And a wise bear and a sagacious monkey

To collect the money as they go

***

Autumn

In the fog the knock-kneed peasant and his ox

Go slowly through the autumn fog

That hides the villages and their ugliness

And the peasant keeps on walking humming

A song about love and deception

A song about a ring and a heart on fire

Oh autumn the autumn ambushed the summer

In the fog I saw two shadows going