Edith Kinsky
La Troupe Löwy
Players. La vie en rose.
For autumn has come
and the gestures,
the sequined dresses, the trumpets, and the balls
hang in a row on silken threads
in the still, bright day.They practise breathing
in the crisp, cold air.
The dust
of backrooms sinks meanwhile
in beams of light that come in through the cracks.
Backs stoop without a sound,
legs bend
one hand or another crooks
and a large dark mouth
rehearses feeble cries.Evening falls.
The silken threads tear.
They grasp their trumpets, put their dresses on,
their empty throats fill up with sound,
and clattering, rasping, humming
the troupe crowds onto the stage.They laugh and weep.
They dance and kill, sing,
lose, and call
for children who do not exist.
The moon shines white. The gawpers look on mute
And dust is rising from the boards like smoke.
Translated by Martin Chalmers
Page(s) 190-191
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