From behind the mountain - I don’t know, where there these montains are, He arrived on a white camel, He went into the suffocating town - And was noticed by the people. And the untalented crowd of people With their lives carefree (and) unstable He affected with his calm, strange And such an incomprehensible smile. As if he knew something hidden, As if he heard something most important, As if he had seen the brightest, As if he felt all infinity. And enraging the crowd of the restaurant With their lives soundly unstable And that he smiled so strangely And such an incomprehensible smile. And all heroes we dethroned, Proved their thoughts to be criminal, Proved beautiful women As cold and unapproachable. And the untalented crowd of people beseeched - This gray soulless mass, - That he’ll say to them the most essentials, And opened up for the most necessaries. And forgetting all precious dispair, On its place came all anew: He told them three most affectionate And long forgotten (words).
© Elisabeth Jelinek. Translation, 2018