emotions
church tower jabs the sky
as if it meant to stay there forever
its spire pricks
the glistening air
the sun settles slowly
it is already behind the house
the house is on the horizon
and I don’t want to eat
I’m not hungry
I will never eat again
I am insane
smoke rises from the houses
windows are open wide
there are human faces there
light trembles
before disappearing
there is nobody to walk in the streets
only me
main street is full of slogans
I don’t want to labour like that any more
I wanted to escape
but they enslaved me
they almost killed me in the jungle
I don’t want to work
I have so much hatred in me
because my life
is being ruled by idiots
work means you are too busy
to hand yourself in the underpass
that’s why I busy myself with things
I don’t care about
I don’t want to do them at all but I have to
I know I have to
because I don’t know anything at all
--
Jáchym Topol
(Translated from the Czech by Eva Klimentová and Toby Litt)