Zwischentöne: Baukörper [English translation]

The first thing that I see as I step out of the station

In the huge area before me, is not a woman.

Instead my gaze falls immediately on a beautiful,

Large and also exceedingly luxurious building

It looked to me like a palace, no, like a temple

Of a long-forgotten divinity, the way it stands there.

I see myself as an automaton that is remote controlled

Going toward a sanctuary mechanically

A coachman stands at the entrance, who with a well-practiced gesture

Sends bellhops with luggage inside

I barely perceive the people who surround me

I am by this scenery enchanted and entranced

Chauffeurs hold open automobile doors

Guests arrive and other guests leave

The fine dandified ladies step in and step out

And noble gentlemen nod, friendly but brief.

I feel like a believer, who in seeing

a cathedral thanks the Creator on his knees

I hear myself savor the name, it’s tasteful

And emblazoned in large letters above me on the entranceway

In my breast grows a deep yearning

And suddenly it is clear to me: I belong inside this place

I’ll find a way, I want and must get in

I know otherwise my whole life will never have any meaning

I can feel it, today is my lucky day

And something great and special will happen to me

I check how my suit fits and go around the block

A second entrance has to exist

There’s the door, here the staff and

vendors constantly go in and out like insects

The threshold is inviting, and so I enter

For the very first time that large, wonderful house.

I don’t feel even for a second like an intruder

It only reinforced what I knew

I have arrived where I belong.

I remain almost unnoticed in the busy business

They’ll be desperately looking for a replacement, the position

Of caretaker is only recently free

The predecessor, so I’m told, had an accidental fall

And unfortunately broke his neck in the process

Just a few conversations and many tall tales later

I am hired at the hotel

Only on probation, to start, but I feel

Like the luckiest devil in the whole wide world

I think, what a wonderful coincidence

Although I say aloud “What a pitiful fellow!”

From now on I work in paradise and have for the first time

In a long while a roof over my head

Forgotten is the Somme1, forgotten is Versailles2,

Forgotten is the misery, all of that lies behind me

From tomorrow I am a new man, I have prospects

And I wish that I can stay here forever

1. WWI battle2. The treaty, WWI