Die kleine Ballade vom schwarzen Schmetterling [English translation]

There somewhere deep inside me

This old animal is hiding

It is the animal called "longing"

That tears through my body

It rages, scratches and bites and shrieks

And burrows through my soft flesh

The creature, it doesn't let me have any peace

I entice it and grab it

"Now I have you! Now you're mine!

I'll smash in your skull!"

"No, don't do anything to me! I can't help it!

I'm just a wild animal."

The animal, it whispers in my ear

"I propose a trade:

Unfortunately, I'm stuck fast in you,

However, if you let me live,

No more biting or raging

For that you'll never feel empty again

For that you'll never be alone any more

I will always be inside you."

I contemplate and think to myself:

"Perhaps I'll never again find an animal."

I agree, answer its plea,

So it shall be, so it shall be done.

It lies down, makes itself very small

Rolls itself into a ball

So the animal sleeps year after year

And often I forget about it completely

In the seventh year, one day,

It's gone! But where it lay

Lies a gossamer cocoon, so white and fine

Where has the animal remained?

But don't I hear, when I listen carefully,

A throbbing from the cotton wool?

I don't think any more about it

Yet now and then I lie awake at night

And it gets stronger every day

Already it sounds like a beating drum

My head splits immediately, it bursts with pain

Be silent, damned heart of thunder!

But woe! The cocoon is empty

The old creature, it is no more

Instead there is I know not what

A shape, pale as a corpse

Enormous with black wings

I ask myself "What the hell is that?

What kind of awful thing is that?

By my soul! It's a butterfly!

The eyes stare at me full of rage

And thirst, I know it wants my blood

It opens its mouth for a kiss

I know that I must die now

It smiles gently and bends over

And whispers softly in my ear:

"It's not fault! I can't help it.

I'm just a wild animal."

Have you missed me?

Have you missed me?