Glass voices Lasinäänet Poem by Dorothea Grünzweig

Glass lasi hear our story
the month of May let us live
in the glassworks and on the way back

from the glassworkfestival the sea
was of glass of glass

Cracks served as channels for ships
beyond that the ocean consisted of
deep hollows hollow hummocks
ridges summits swinging bells
gongs chimes resounding brilliance shimmer
when the sun moreover
the wind's wanderlust
played with the heaving glass

Special children chosen
for permanent childhood travelled
with us and it became clear
that the glassy sea and the chiming
singing children's voices

are from one and the same mix
lasinäänet glass voices pure
in no danger of becoming
glasssick like us with our voices that
can crumble to ash and sand
and our mouths often capped
while the mouths of the children
are always split open

On the way home from
the glassworkfestival amidst
the glassy expanse of the sea
glass lasi lasienäänet


it so happened that the tinted glass
of the children's voices pushed across
the clear glass of our own voices
in manifold patterns and tones
creating a flood of flashed glass

kellojenkieli kilisee helisee
kilkatus kimallus
Glas lasi lasienäänet

Translated from the German by Derk Wynand