THE WAR OF NERVES
The war of nerves is a natural phenomenon
Dogs wage it with cats, bears with wasps
The pine moth with the forester, the rascal with the bookseller
The skunk and the boa with the rabbit.
Gentle persuasion won't help much here
There's no use dreaming of taking some time off
Since what kind of break will the mountain eagle get
While he's being shot at from a copter
But the nightingale still sings in spite of danger
The soaring eagle holds sway in the spring sky
The swallow flits by, the swift flutters its wings
The woodpecker, gaudy drummer, won't give up its morning
scores
The less-nervous one wins in the war of nerves
The one who shuns unnecessary disputes and knows well
That the skunk won't shake off its skunky nature
And that you've got to keep your mental balance
Julia Hartwig
ABOVE US
Boys kicking a ball on a vast square beneath an obelisk
and the apocalyptic sky at sunset to the rear
Why the sudden menace in this view
as if someone wished to turn it all to red dust
The sun already knows And the sky knows it too
And the water in the river knows
Music bursts from the loudspeakers like wild laughter
Only a star high above us
stands lost in thought with a finger to its lips
)
