only once, always only once
illness like a flight to Bosnia via Vienna
like a third rebuff first Ararat
when the bottoms rule, and I leader of the bottoms
a third-generation dynastic ghost
and what of those circumstances, what of them
cohering to a weak madness
greatness expands, the walls are turning to mirrors
they shined once and I alone
chased the Horse God out of the house
farewell, I said, and be together
both in goodness: when I give – You take
when I curse, You do not answer
I know, you are plotting, think I’m stupid
both in goodness, inseparable
separation is intended or is the result of fate
something that has occurred or somewhere merely gone
I even have a sense what the young Bosnian is lowing
what the old Bosnian is disapprovingly coughing
I give my heart to you, and you some sort of equivalent
near this spring you will remain or return
from now on, girls, lazy and bosomy
will vanish for you in a totally different paris
where water stretches slowly and majestically
above the flood stands hoary Ararat
it means that consciousness has come full circle
into your eye like a coin my torpid face
has set, an image, that the time
has come to leave