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“A Shadow on the Wall” by Gottfried Benn 🇩🇪 (2 May 1886 – 7 Jul 1956)
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
A shadow on the wall
boughs stirred by the noonday wind
that’s enough earth
and for the eye
enough celestial participation.
​
How much further do you want to go? Refuse
the bossy insistence
of new impressions—
​
lie there still,
behold your own fields,
your estate,
dwelling especially
on the poppies,
unforgettable
because they transported the summer—
​
where did it go?