The day when the seagulls sang in two parts Poem by Silke Scheuermann

While the water ebbs away and jellyfish are stranded
unaffected by the salt
by oxidation and the sun
you envy the children who push their heels
into the sand poking for shells their security
with a violence which takes you
completely by surprise

Your eye is cleansed has sharper pupils now
while the surge gobbles its way back into the sea
you lack something
several years
in morsels small as the back of a stamp
white as the flesh of the octopus were snatched by the seagulls
There's a pain there whose link with your head is severed

Sinewy streaks of oil cover
the waves and lead through rims of foam
to earlier days
and to
the time
when windswept you slowly stepped
down the stairs of farewell to this strand
- You are still able to swim but you can't
stand on your own two feet anymore -

I know the jellyfish amaze you with their
ability to be ugly and yet transparent
and I know that any moment now
you'll scream for an answer to what I'm looking for elsewhere
hoping I might ask you back

Translated by Hans-Christian Oeser & Gabriel Rosenstock