«This will happen, happen, / no way of avoiding this: / the birds will shrill above the town, / orchestras will play, / the air will grow more limpid, / the guns’ thud will be forgotten, / and the army of the frontier / will march home singing. / This will happen, happen — / I b...»
«All the earth, the whole planet, / is one big rush over there... / The road’s as taut / and vibrant as a string. / Wherever they may go, all / are bent on going there, / and no one comes this way, / but always over there, there. I’m left here all alone, / left simply alone. / ...»
«Protect us poets, and guard us well. / What’s left? — a century, a year, a week, / An hour, three minutes, two, nothing at all... / Protect us, but only if all support the one. Protect us though we sin, have joy or none. / Our D’Anthes walks somewhere, young and handsome. / He’s h...»
«Don’t believe in war, my boy, / don’t believe, it’s quite depressing, / it’s as depressing, boy, / as a pair of boots that pinch. Those swift romantic steeds of yours, / they are good for nothing here; / you’re as exposed as an open palm, / and the bullets’ only target.»