Villanelle Poem by Szabolcs Várady

1 wake at half past three or near enough.
The chain unpulled, in one continuous wave,
the toilet bowl is draining itself off.

Does anyone out there go for this stuff?
You 've worked alI day, you need a wash, a shave,
you sleep till half past three or near enough

then spooks, who, not content to mope or sough,
sit and perform! And what you'd not believe:
The toilet bowl is draining itself off.

Better without the spooks perhaps? It's tough,
like waking in an unJenanted grave
at half past three or four or near enough.

To sleep? Impossible. Mere blind-man's buff.
The world is full of dangers, won't behave.
The toilet bowl is draining itself off.

You fetch your market price though it seems rough
never to know the pimp for whom you slave.
1 wake at half past three or near enough:
the toilet bowl is draining itself off.

Translated of Daniel Hoffman