Wisp

Never has the world been as vast as it is today.

Wheel tracks on the road, raspberry bushes, pine trees;

Behind them towns and fields, air stinking of sweat.

And wherever you wouldn’t go, there already is something –

And it’s just you that has never seen those parts.

A flame spills over the wall and then fades for a quick moment

Frightened by a gust of an unfamiliar wind.

A mongrel element curled up by the ground – what a kindness it would be to finish it off, to dim it with a shoe,

To spare it the shame of such a pathetic life.

Wildness is a delusion. Nothing is more enslaved than fire.

And tell me, child, on this secluded path

With a lantern in your hand, so terrified of the dark

What is so scary in this world besides the wind

Besides the vastness of it all, besides the lie of freedom?

Whose fault is it that the Earth keeps turning? Mine?

Yours?

Stand up.

Shake the sand off your pants. Raise your head at least.

Spit on the bird that’s flying above you – it is he who enslaved you.

You weren’t given wings and you weren’t given strong will. Future you were given, but a short one.

So stand up.

Hold onto me tight; I don’t know where I’m going.

I don’t know why you don’t cast any shadow, though the sky is already brightening with pale dawn.

On me you won’t spit. You feel too sorry for me.

If I ever had any goals, I don’t have them anymore.

But you’re alive, isn’t it so?

You’re still alive?

So maybe that’s okay.

Being lost will pass. A new day will come.

There is no virtue as beautiful as the savage will to survive.