e-ISSN 2499-5975
Il Tolomeo
Vol. 22 – Dicembre | December | Décembre 2020
21 DOI 10.30687/Tol/2499-5975/2020/01/006
Still
Grosse Hamburger Strasse, Berlin
Ingrid de Kok
On Grosse Hamburger Strasse There is silence
It is always silent
On Grosse Hamburger Strasse Even four boys drinking pilsener Opposite the frozen families waiting For the transport
Are mute
The missing house Hushed
And a man
Who enters the gate Of the evacuated cemetery His head covered
Makes no print No sound Not even a shuffle.
How grief saturates The air
Rain is coming How grief sediments The stones
Rain is coming.
How no sign Of guilt
Or remembrance Brings back voices To this suspended place The old inhabitants Forever stilled
22
Il Tolomeo e-ISSN 2499-5975 22, 2020, 21-22
The new owners
Arrested in history’s gaze.
Nobody moves
On Grosse Hamburger Strasse Except shadows gathering Then dispersing
And this afternoon also As gentle rain falls on the stones And upon the earth below Without a splatter of sound.
Ingrid de Kok Still