Half of Life Poem by Hans Thill

He walked now jingling as if on
cups dressed gaily after the fashion
of the steppe animals which cut loose
from in his insides

His skin had grown dry
creaked at each step. Eating he filled
his sandy intestines
while the belt line slowly

climbed in the direction of his Adam's apple
he came apart in two
parts of equal weight which met
in the middle of a lengthways cut

the one rattling and tanked up
the other already emptied out
like a mouth that while sleeping
eats its own teeth

Translation by Andrew Duncan