Gedichte auf Englisch - Seite 7

Perfect Future Makes Past And Present Simple

Future, won’t you give to me a warrant of quality?
I can imagine, but I don’t see:
Present keeps me thinking of the past.

I am sticking to the past, present is running fast.
Future is hope, but present is live.
Thoughts of future puncture present life.

Yesterday’s pains still pierce, today future sorrows look fierce.
We can imagine, but we can’t see.
Hope is dope, makes past and present fade.

Hypnotizing prophecy, self-fulfilling „Wait and see“:
Mortgage on reality is blackmail of today.
First instalment on the future NOW.


For Heidi (Hein Baumgarten, April 18th, 1985)

Heinrich Baumgarten

Great-Grandmother's Walkman

When the people had no radio, no records, no TV,
Well, where did they get their music from they liked as well as we?
There was a man who walked the streets, who went from town to town:
A real walkman, you could say; a tophat was his crown.

When he came the windows opened wide, faces popping out.
His barrel-organ played the tunes, the ballads sounding loud.
He was the hurdy-gurdy man whom everybody liked.
Nobody knew how many miles a year the fellow hiked.

He was welcome at the fairs in any village he came to,
And the people cheered his grinding-work, the children loved him, too.
His tophat put on top his organ waited to be filled.
In no time - imagine! - the audience had filled it to the hilt.

And today you rarely find an organ-grinder any more
Since so many people practise that they are themselves a bore.
Caught tightly in the pliers of their tiny walkman's phones,
They think their culture's up -to -date, but aren't they really drones?

(Aug.18th, 1984)

Heinrich Baumgarten

Won't you listen to my story? I'm a victim of TV.
All that industry can offer is alright with me, you'll see.
I'm a buyer, I'm a spender, I'm consumer number one.

Friday evening there's the last chance for buying things you never need.
I get my money, grab my basket, supermarket, here I come!
Rushing through the entrance I start overtaking everyone.

Chocolate, biscuits, cornflakes, sugar, butter, marmalade and jam;
Matches, ballpens, trousers, blazers, budgies, noodles soup and soap.
I don't need a shopping-list, oh no, friends, I know what I need:

I need ice-cream, I need raincoats, I need hats and pins and milk;
I need pianos and detergents, I need ties of wool and silk.
Don't you see that I'm in trouble? I need everything indeed.

Oh what fun it is to push the trolley full of all that stuff!
Pay attention, fellow-buyers, I'm the champion, yes, I am.
Now I'm going to use my elbows, now my job is getting tough.

Let me pass, I am the greatest, I'm consumer number one.
Here I come with three full trolleys plus three baskets. Oh what fun!
By the way, I've got to pay for all the things I've got in there.

That's no problem, I've got credit, plastic money is alright.
So you've got too little money? Well, don't worry, that's alright.
If you haven't got the money - there is money in the bank!


(June 13th, 1984)



Heinrich Baumgarten