Poem
Nora Gomringer
The girls in Bergen-Belsen
Anne and Margothidden so long under the stars,
covered with little more than a voice,
filled the lines with time
and there emerged what people
call a diary.
The book of days of one became
canon. The other
has disappeared from the earth.
Is sister of and daughter of,
barely so remembered even by the dead.
Mrs Typhoid, though, still recalls
how she met the girls.
She was glad to take the bright one, so admired,
for herself. She makes for good company,
you can rhyme worlds into numbers with her.
And she’s light too, light as a feather.
Although they come to a tonne
when conscience adds them one by one
to the incomprehensible total:
Margot and Anne.
De meisjes in Bergen-Belsen
Anne en Margot,lang verborgen onder de sterren,
met weinig meer dan een stem bedekt,
vulden hun regels met tijd
en zo ontstond wat mensen
een dagboek noemen.
Het boek der dagen van de één werd
wereldlectuur. De ander
is van de aarde verdwenen.
Is zus van en dochter van,
als zodanig amper nog herinnerd door de doden zelf.
Maar vrouwe Tyfus weet nog wel
hoe zij de meisjes greep.
Gretig nam zij de bewonderde knappe kop
tot zich. Die vormt goed gezelschap,
met haar kun je werelden in getallen vatten.
En licht is ze, als een veer zo licht.
Maar de uitkomst is ook een ton
als het geweten ze afzonderlijk
optelt tot de onbevattelijke som:
Margot en Anne.
Die mädchen in Bergen-Belsen
Anne und Margot.lange verborgen unter den Sternen,
mit wenig mehr als einer Stimme bedeckt,
füllten die Zeilen mit Zeit
und es entstand, was die Menschen
ein Tagebuch nennen.
Das Buch der Tage der einen wurde
Weltlektüre. Die andere
ist verschwunden von der Erde.
Ist Schwester von und Tochter von,
als diese von den Toten selbst kaum mehr erinnert.
Doch Frau Typhus weiß noch,
wie sie die Mädchen traf.
Sie nahm sich die bewunderte Kluge
so gern. Die macht gute Gesellschaft,
mit der kann man Weiten in Zahlen fassen.
Und leicht ist die, wie eine Feder leicht.
Obwohl die auch eine Tonne ergeben,
wenn das Gewissen sie einzeln
zur unfasslichen Summe addiert:
Margot und Anne.
From: Morbus
Publisher: Voland & Quist, Dresden, Leipzig
Publisher: Voland & Quist, Dresden, Leipzig
Poems
Poems of Nora Gomringer
Close
The girls in Bergen-Belsen
Anne and Margothidden so long under the stars,
covered with little more than a voice,
filled the lines with time
and there emerged what people
call a diary.
The book of days of one became
canon. The other
has disappeared from the earth.
Is sister of and daughter of,
barely so remembered even by the dead.
Mrs Typhoid, though, still recalls
how she met the girls.
She was glad to take the bright one, so admired,
for herself. She makes for good company,
you can rhyme worlds into numbers with her.
And she’s light too, light as a feather.
Although they come to a tonne
when conscience adds them one by one
to the incomprehensible total:
Margot and Anne.
From: Morbus
The girls in Bergen-Belsen
Anne and Margothidden so long under the stars,
covered with little more than a voice,
filled the lines with time
and there emerged what people
call a diary.
The book of days of one became
canon. The other
has disappeared from the earth.
Is sister of and daughter of,
barely so remembered even by the dead.
Mrs Typhoid, though, still recalls
how she met the girls.
She was glad to take the bright one, so admired,
for herself. She makes for good company,
you can rhyme worlds into numbers with her.
And she’s light too, light as a feather.
Although they come to a tonne
when conscience adds them one by one
to the incomprehensible total:
Margot and Anne.
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère