Oh our words Poem by Dorothea Grünzweig

The Finnish word for moon is Kuu(1)
(one could also mention the English moo
when the shaky n falls away)
two beings here begin to unite
which suggests a raising of sights
the way -lle in Lottelle/to Lotte in the allative(2)
contains -le/chen a homey diminutive
and in hirtäa/to hang good herdsmen live

The Kuu when it appears in the sky
illuminates the masticating moon in the meadows
the piebald creature cares for us from above
when it's Kuu-night and when the milk
the night wind has milked flows
into murky waters and lo and behold
it turns white and sweet

Those of us battered by pressing time
have all along loved Kuus
their nature wades deep inside us
the unhurried blissful way of grazing
now amalgamated with enchanting phases
and so we follow the waxing waning Kuu
the crescent kuu (conceivably crescent Madonna)
the full half and new kuu
kuu eclipsed
when she reddens our blood boils
(a man also squats in her innards)

And every time she chews her cud
in the lush profusion of the sky
we get out of it a fine melancholic time
that gently sinks into us we lie flat
on our backs remember hold our breath
and hope hard since hoping does good
that for her will bloom no violent death

(1) sounds like the German, Kuh, or cow
(2) Allative: one of the 15 cases of the Finnish language.

Translated from the German by Derk Wynand