![]() The Beggars
You didn't know what was in the heap. A visitor found it to contain beggars. They sell the hollow of their hands. They show the sightseer their mouths full of filth, and let him (he can afford it) peer at the mange eating away at them. In their twisted vision his stranger's face is skewed; they are pleased with their accession, and when he speaks they spew. Translated by Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
From Volume 192, Number 1, April 2008 Copyright © The Poetry Foundation |