I found this beautiful and inspiring poem copied out in an old notebook, and remembered how its uplifting sentiment had inspired me though some tough times. I wanted to share it with you in the hopes that your lives too will be similarly enriched. I’m afraid I don’t know the translator, but whoever it was they sure did an inspired job of bringing Benn’s precious words to life. Have a nice day!

Gottfried Benn

The mouth of the girl who had laid so long

In the reeds looked so gnawed at.

When one broke open the breast,

The esophagus was so full of holes.

Finally in a bower under the diaphragm

I found a nest of young rats.

One little sister lay dead.

The others were living on liver and kidney,

Drank the cold blood and had

Spent a beautiful childhood there.

And beautiful and fast their death, too, came:

I threw them the lot of them into the water.

Oh, how the little snouts squeaked!