(for Fannie Hurst)
o great happiness
great happiness have they got,
who were born in the lowest country –
everywhere you can see them
wandering
loving
crying –
everywhere they walk,
but in their hands they carry little things
from the lowest country –
– – –
o greater than all countries
lovelier
is the lowest –
upwards the earth writhes
in a point –
and downwards
outwards sinks the heavy
living blood
into the lowest country –
– – – |
narrow careful feet
and thin limbs
and clean is the air
over the open upwards-rising roads –
in closed veins
the longing burns with those,
who were born under the heavens –
but o
you should go to the lowest country –!
o you should see the people from the lowest country,
where the blood flows freely between everybody –
men –
women –
children –
where happiness and despair and love
heavy and fully ripened
sparkles in all colours onto the earth –
o the earth is secretive like a brow
in the lowest country –
– – –
everywhere you can see them
wandering
loving
crying –
their faces are closed,
and on the inside of their souls is lodged earth
from the lowest country –