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From “Late” by Gottfried Benn 🇩🇪 (2 May 1886 – 7 Jul 1956)
Translated from the German
Feel it—but remember, millennia have felt it—
the sea and the beasts and the mindless stars
wrestle it down today as ever—
​
think it—but remember, the most exalted
are wallowing in their own bow-wave,
are no more than the yellow of the buttercup,
while other colors too play their game—
​
remember and endure the hour,
there was never one like it, all are like it,
people and angels and cherubim,
black-winged, bright-eyed,
none was yours—
was ever yours.