The Verse of Alfred Lichtenstein Part 9

Hardly a trace of rising-- I have grown above the whole world.

I have become the complete G.o.d And horribly awake.

And now I must cast away death.

My death is mute And without images...

Without redemption--

 

Pathos

You don't love me... I have never appealed to you...

Was never your type...

And my hard eyes annoy you, my darling...

I'm too dark for you. And too coa.r.s.e-- And my white teeth have such a brutal s.h.i.+ne And my b.l.o.o.d.y lips are so terribly like sickles.

Ah, what you say-- Yes you are really right. I set you... free.

... And early in the morning I am going to an ocean That is blue and eternal...

And lie on the beach...

And play with a smile on my face, until a death grabs me, With sand and sun and with a white Slender b.i.t.c.h.

Love Song

Your eyes are bright lands.

Your looks are little birds, Handkerchiefs gently waving goodbye.

In your smile I rest as though in bobbing boats.

Your little stories are made of silk.

I must behold you always.

The Suicide

White, I lie On the remains of an amus.e.m.e.nt park Between jagged buildings-- Burning flower... s.h.i.+ning sea...

Toes and hands Reach out into emptiness.

Longing tears the weeping body to pieces.

The little moon glides above me.

Eyes grope Gently into the deep world, Sunken hats Wandering stars.

Touched

I gladly left The noisy death of the city, With its thousands of leering faces, The yellow night of the alleys.

I stride into the broad, Silver sky; The pious limbs glide Deep into gently being.

I am in the white brightness Of cloud, meadow, wind.

Am tree, am town, am child...

How wet are my eyes!

Soon the green evening will stand At its silver end...

I raise blessed hands-- I want to go to meet it--

Prayer to People

I go through the days Like a thief.

And no one hears My heart lament to itself.

Please have pity.

Like me.

I hate you.

I want to embrace you.

Wanderer in the Evening

Kuno Kohn sings: Dusty Sunday Lies burned to pieces.

Charred coolness Mothers the land.

Dissolute longing Gapes once again.

Dreams and tears Stream upward.

Evening

Houses stand stiffly next to their fences.

Let your eyes, last sparrows, flutter.

Bluebottles alight on your face.

Don't you, Kuno, feel the eternal mills-- The unfeeling one bores holes in your head.

Look once more at the moon, the mustard-pot murderer.

Spring

All men are now greedy, All women are shouting, Hide yourself in your hump, Remain alone--

Kuno Kohn's Five Songs to Mary