Notes for "Blei"   

Sunny day at Café Sociale.
I muster girls on bicycles
(a semi-pregnant with earphones,
at the counter), a fleet of faces.

I hear the lineal collapsing of minds,
of those encircled in apartments,
with eyes closed for ever.

Oh, these German women,
clever at preparing rich sandwiches.

Charlotte Church singing
at the village marketplace.

I have achieved success.
With brilliant tones
from trumpets and saxophones,
I announce it to the thick painted lips
of the young dame in black.

“Oh, you funny fellow clowning around,
tell me, what is it all about?”
Yes: my heart is cast in lead.
I abhor the fellow who slept
in the overcoat of his girl.
I hurry back to the funeral ceremony.

For whom, for whom!

Anwar Al-Ghassani
Berlin, Wednesday, July 28, 2004