Shanghai Bob

Today is grey and gloomy in London, with spattering rain.  Typical mid-summer weather!  Maybe because of the rain, but probably partly because I’m leaving soon, a poem I memorized at university was running through my head today.  The original is German, here’s a translation:

The Flying Robert

Escapism, you cry out to me, 
reproachfully. 
What else, I reply, 
with this lousy weather! 
I open my umbrella 
and launch myself into the winds. 
From your point of view 
I become smaller and smaller, 
until I vanish. 
I leave behind nothing 
but a legend, 
with which you green-eyed monsters 
pester your children, 
when it storms outside, 
so that they do not fly away from you.

  — Hans Magnus Enzensberger

 ”You green-eyed monsters” is a loose translation of “ihr Neidhammel” (you envious people) in the original.  ”Hammel” is wether in English, and if you grew up on a ranch you might recognize that word, but if not, you probably think it’s a typo for “weather” or “whether”.  It means a castrated male sheep, the sheep-world equivalent of a steer.  That may seem like an obscure word, unless you recognize it as part of “bellwether”, a word you’ve probably used.

Here’s the original:
 

Der fliegende Robert

Eskapismus, ruft ihr mir zu, 
vorwurfsvoll. 
Was denn sonst, antworte ich, 
bei diesem Sauwetter! -, 
spanne den Regenschirm auf 
und erhebe mich in die Lüfte. 
Von euch aus gesehen, 
werde ich immer kleiner und kleiner, 
bis ich verschwunden bin. 
Ich hinterlasse nichts weiter 
als eine Legende, 
mit der ihr Neidhammel, 
wenn es draußen stürmt, 
euern Kindern in den Ohren liegt, 
damit sie euch nicht davonfliegen.

— Hans Magnus Enzensberger

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 pm and is filed under freedom.