Ebba Simone’s Reviews > Love Poems > Status Update

Confusion (sencond stanza)

To love each other
and let each other starve to death
To love each other and know
that one can do little about it
To love each other
and try not to be blunted
To love each other
and with time
kill each other
And yet love each other
with better and better weapons

Confusion (first stanza)

To love each other
in a time
when people kill each other
with better and better weapons
and let each other starve to death
And to know
that we can do little about it
and to try
not to be blunted
And still love each other

I don't know what love is
but perhaps
it is something like this:

When she
comes home from abroad
and tells me proudly: "I saw
a water rat"
and I remember these words
when I wake up in the night
and next day at my work
and I long
to hear her say
the same words once more
and for her
to look exactly the same
as she looked
when she said them -

I think that is maybe love
or something rather like it

Berechnung ist nicht dasselbe wie Vorsicht. "It is foolish / says caution" is translated correctly. "Berechnung" does not mean "caution". It means calculation:

It is unhappiness
says calculation

(I'm aware how difficult it is to tranlate poems. This is just meant to be a side note for my group readers.)

What it Is

It is madness
says reason
It is what it is
says love

It is unhappiness
says caution
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It has no future
says insight
It is what it is
says love

It is ridiculous
says pride
It is foolish
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love

Berechnung ist nicht dasselbe wie Vorsicht.