[There has been an outbreak of dying] Poem by Dorothea Grünzweig

There has been an outbreak of dying
beneath us the globe has grown
so small is it
from the pressure of
human weight of laboured breath
of a sadness that gnaws away
the little globe
it

has shrunk away into itself
soft into itself weeps
it has turned inward as if
leaning away from some distress

There has been an outbreak of dying
a shrinkage beneath our feet a pull
an unrest that renders sleepless
the little globe weeps weeps become
like trees before they're felled
like the dying turned inward
no faith in speech or lamentation

A dying in the dreams also has
how outbroken we saw
the globe saw globes as heads
from them hairs like
blown up houses crashed trees
crashed countless dead from all the wretched earth

A great great dying has broken out
the little globe outbroken
weeps all around weeping for and
spirits kind are in great desolation

Translated from the German by Derk Wynand