1. When the child was a child,
it walked with its arms swinging.Copy !req
2. It wanted the stream to be a river,
the river a torrent...Copy !req
3. and this puddle to be the sea.Copy !req
4. When the child was a child,
it didn't know it was a child.Copy !req
5. Everything was full of life,
and all life was one.Copy !req
6. When the child was a child,
it had no opinion about anything.Copy !req
7. It had no habits.Copy !req
8. It often sat cross-legged,
took off running...Copy !req
9. had a cowlick in its hair,
and didn't pull a face...Copy !req
10. when photographed.Copy !req
11. Look.Copy !req
12. The consolation of lifting one's head
out here in the open...Copy !req
13. of seeing the colours
enlightened by the sun...Copy !req
14. in all men's eyes.Copy !req
15. At last mad, no longer alone.Copy !req
16. At last mad, at last redeemed.
At last mad, at last at peace.Copy !req
17. At last an internal light.Copy !req
18. We're approaching Berlin Tegel, the
no-smoking sign has been turned on.Copy !req
19. Please stop smoking
until you're inside the airport.Copy !req
20. There's a little house
with two floors and a terrace.Copy !req
21. And every day we go bathing.Copy !req
22. The man who lives there
is called Peter...Copy !req
23. Pretty picture.Copy !req
24. Nothing good to see on TV.Copy !req
25. You stumble over your colours,
and are never punctual.Copy !req
26. Still the same smell. But dustier.
She collected everything.Copy !req
27. Stamps, postcards.Copy !req
28. Even U-Bahn tickets.
She never threw anything away.Copy !req
29. Mother. My mother.
She never was.Copy !req
30. My father...
My father was my father.Copy !req
31. She is dead.
No tears, no grief. Maybe later.Copy !req
32. Dependant on everybody.
My sister. I have to get out of here.Copy !req
33. She's never loved me.
And you also just pretend.Copy !req
34. Be glad that they forgot about you.Copy !req
35. Want to die immediately,
don't want to go on living.Copy !req
36. My God, what will become of the boy?
He's only got music on his mind.Copy !req
37. What does he want now?Copy !req
38. I already bought him a guitar.
Does he wants drums now?Copy !req
39. I'm slowly getting fed up with it.
Won't he ever grow up?Copy !req
40. No really, I'm getting fed up.
I don't want to go on with this.Copy !req
41. No really, this has to stop some time.
I can't help him any more.Copy !req
42. No wonder, he only learnt rock 'n' roll.Copy !req
43. Maybe he'll get a grip on himself
one day.Copy !req
44. When the child was a child,
it was the time of these questions:Copy !req
45. Why am I me, and why not you?Copy !req
46. Why am I here, and why not there?Copy !req
47. When did time begin,
and where does space end?Copy !req
48. Isn't life under the sun
just a dream?Copy !req
49. Isn't what I see, hear and smell just a
mirage of the world before the world?Copy !req
50. Does evil actually exist,
and people who are really evil?Copy !req
51. How can it be that I, the one I am,
wasn't there before I was there...Copy !req
52. and that some time I, the one I am,
no longer will be the one I am?Copy !req
53. The child needs oxygen.
Breathe deep down.Copy !req
54. If I could only suffer in her place.
- It hurts.Copy !req
55. It'll be over soon.
- It's almost over.Copy !req
56. Poor little mite, I'm anxious to see you.
I wonder what you look like.Copy !req
57. You bastard. You bastard.
- Women will fuck up your life.Copy !req
58. Blackie, I think I got lost.
We wanted to go to the cemetery...Copy !req
59. Well?Copy !req
60. Sunrise at 7.22 am, sunset at 4.28 pm.
Moonrise at 7.04 pm, moonset...Copy !req
61. Level of the Havel and the Spree...Copy !req
62. 20 years ago today, a Soviet jet fighter
crashed into the lakes at Spandau.Copy !req
63. 50 years ago, there were...
- The Olympic Games.Copy !req
64. 200 years ago,
the first balloon flew over the city.Copy !req
65. Like the fugitives the other day.
- And today...Copy !req
66. Lilienthaler Chaussee:
A man slows down...Copy !req
67. and looks over his shoulder
into space.Copy !req
68. Someone who wants
to put an end to it...Copy !req
69. put first-issue stamps
on his farewell letters.Copy !req
70. A different one on each.Copy !req
71. Then he spoke English
with an American soldier...Copy !req
72. for the first time since his schooldays,
fluently.Copy !req
73. Just before dashing his head against
the wall, a prisoner said: "Now."Copy !req
74. Instead of the station's name,
the guard...Copy !req
75. suddenly shouted: "Tierra del Fuego."
- Nice.Copy !req
76. An old man was reading
the Odyssey to a child...Copy !req
77. and the young listener
stopped blinking his eyes.Copy !req
78. And what do you have to tell?Copy !req
79. A passer-by who, in the rain,
folded her umbrella and was drenched.Copy !req
80. A schoolboy who described
to his teacher a fern growing...Copy !req
81. and the astounded teacher.Copy !req
82. A blind woman, who groped her watch,
feeling my presence.Copy !req
83. It's great to live by the spirit,
to testify for eternity...Copy !req
84. only what is spiritual
in people's minds.Copy !req
85. But sometimes I'm fed up
with my spiritual existence...Copy !req
86. of forever hovering above.Copy !req
87. I'd like to feel a weight in me...Copy !req
88. to end the infinity,
and to tie me to earth.Copy !req
89. I'd like at each step,
each gust of wind...Copy !req
90. to be able to say:
"Now, now and now."Copy !req
91. No longer:
"Forever" and "For eternity".Copy !req
92. Sit at the empty place at a card table,
be greeted...Copy !req
93. even by a nod.Copy !req
94. Every time we participated,
it was a pretence.Copy !req
95. Wrestling, allowing a hip to be put out,
in pretence...Copy !req
96. catching a fish in pretence.Copy !req
97. In pretence, sitting at tables
drinking and eating in pretence.Copy !req
98. Having lambs roasted and wine served
in the tents in the desert...Copy !req
99. only in pretence.Copy !req
100. I don't have to beget a child
or plant a tree...Copy !req
101. but it would be nice,
coming home after a long day...Copy !req
102. to feed the cat like Philip Marlowe...Copy !req
103. to have a fever,
blackened fingers from the newspaper.Copy !req
104. To be excited not only by the mind,
but by a meal.Copy !req
105. By the line of a neck, by an ear.Copy !req
106. To lie.Copy !req
107. Through one's teeth.Copy !req
108. As you're walking,
to feel your bones moving along.Copy !req
109. At last to guess
instead of always knowing.Copy !req
110. To be able to say:
"Ah" and "Oh" and "Hey"...Copy !req
111. instead of: "Yes and amen."
- Yes.Copy !req
112. To be able to enthuse for evil...Copy !req
113. to draw all the demons
from the passers-by...Copy !req
114. and to chase them out into the world.Copy !req
115. To be a savage.Copy !req
116. Or to feel how it is to take off
your shoes under the table...Copy !req
117. and to wriggle your toes, barefoot,
like that...Copy !req
118. Stay alone.Copy !req
119. Let things happen. Keep serious.Copy !req
120. We can only be savages
in as much as we keep serious.Copy !req
121. Do no more than look.
Assemble, testify, preserve.Copy !req
122. Remain spirit.
Keep your distance. Keep your word.Copy !req
123. Look, a convertible.
You don't buy that, you steal it.Copy !req
124. Or it's stolen from you.
- Imagine...Copy !req
125. Open the roof, leave the smog behind.
- In a pimpmobile.Copy !req
126. Tell me, muse, the storyteller...Copy !req
127. he who has been thrust
to the edge of the world...Copy !req
128. both an infant and an ancient,
and through him reveal Everyman.Copy !req
129. With time, those who listened to me
became my readers.Copy !req
130. They no longer sit in a circle,
but apart...Copy !req
131. and one doesn't know anything
about the other.Copy !req
132. I'm an old man,
with a broken voice...Copy !req
133. but the story
still rises from the depths...Copy !req
134. and the slowly opened mouth...Copy !req
135. repeats it as clearly
as it does powerfully.Copy !req
136. A liturgy for which no one
needs to be initiated...Copy !req
137. to the meaning
of the words and sentences.Copy !req
138. Maybe she doesn't have the money
to see another doctor.Copy !req
139. 4 years since I saw her,
she's been sick for 2.Copy !req
140. When will you pray with your
own words, and not for eternal life?Copy !req
141. And then these young girls
make eyes at men...Copy !req
142. So why am I living? Why am I living?Copy !req
143. How will I pay?
With my small pension.Copy !req
144. You're lost,
it can go on for a long time.Copy !req
145. Abandoned by parents,
betrayed by wife.Copy !req
146. Friend in another town,
your children only recall your stutter.Copy !req
147. You could hit yourself
as you look in the mirror.Copy !req
148. What's that?
What's going on?Copy !req
149. I'm still there.
If I want it, if I only want it.Copy !req
150. I must want it,
then I can get out of it again.Copy !req
151. I let myself go,
I can drag myself out again.Copy !req
152. Of course, mother was right.Copy !req
153. Hey, two Marks.
- No, it's a beer top.Copy !req
154. Nonsense, let's pull it up.Copy !req
155. Only 10 Pfennigs.Copy !req
156. " You bet?" was great last night.
- It wasn't on last night.Copy !req
157. A few days ago, or a month...Copy !req
158. I'm all alone,
just mad on my own...Copy !req
159. three at play, that'll be the day.Copy !req
160. 5 years ago.
- And they lived happily ever after.Copy !req
161. Marion, not like that. Mon dieu.Copy !req
162. What is this?
With a swing, not with force.Copy !req
163. What are you doing?
Don't dangle, fly.Copy !req
164. You are an angel.
- For heaven's sake.Copy !req
165. And for my sake, too.Copy !req
166. I can't fly with these things.
- Yes, you can.Copy !req
167. It's easier with wings than without.
- Not with these chicken feathers.Copy !req
168. What did she say?
- These wings bother her.Copy !req
169. Marion, just imagine you're a dove.
- You bunch of sparrows.Copy !req
170. What are you playing at?
Sounds like a firemen's ball.Copy !req
171. That's enough.
Concentrate, Marion.Copy !req
172. She works hard
with those chicken feathers.Copy !req
173. Marion, make an effort.
- Make an effort.Copy !req
174. Of course, I make an effort.
What do you think I'm doing?Copy !req
175. I'd have fallen on your heads long ago,
if I didn't make an effort.Copy !req
176. One moment, please.Copy !req
177. Hold everything. We can't pay the rent
and the electricity.Copy !req
178. We're broke.Copy !req
179. So tomorrow we'll take things down,
pull the caravans to winter quarters.Copy !req
180. The bailiff's been.
This is it for the circus this year.Copy !req
181. I'm sorry.Copy !req
182. It's over. Not even a season.Copy !req
183. Once again,
no time to bring something to an end.Copy !req
184. Tonight the last night
of my good old number.Copy !req
185. And it's a full moon.Copy !req
186. And the trapeze artist
comes tumbling down...Copy !req
187. Tais-toi. Be quiet.Copy !req
188. I never imagined it like that,
the farewell to the circus.Copy !req
189. The last evening, no one shows up,
you play like fools...Copy !req
190. and I fly around the ring
like a poor chicken.Copy !req
191. And then I'm a waitress again.
Merde.Copy !req
192. Moments like that,
like right now...Copy !req
193. a beautiful memory
in 10 years time.Copy !req
194. Time will heal everything,
but what if time was the illness?Copy !req
195. As if sometimes one had to lean over
to go on living.Copy !req
196. To live... A look is enough.Copy !req
197. The circus... I'll miss it.Copy !req
198. It's funny.
It's the end, and I don't feel a thing.Copy !req
199. An angel passes by.Copy !req
200. I must stop
having a bad conscience.Copy !req
201. As if pain had no past.Copy !req
202. It always stops
when it's only just starting...Copy !req
203. to be too good to be true.Copy !req
204. At last outside, in the city.Copy !req
205. Find out who I am,
who I have become.Copy !req
206. Most of the time,
I'm too aware to be sad.Copy !req
207. I waited an eternity
to hear a loving word.Copy !req
208. Then I went abroad.Copy !req
209. Someone who'd say:
"I love you so much today."Copy !req
210. That would be wonderful.Copy !req
211. I look up and the world
appears before my eyes...Copy !req
212. and fills my heart.Copy !req
213. As a child,
I wanted to live on an island.Copy !req
214. A woman alone, gloriously alone.Copy !req
215. Yes, that's it.Copy !req
216. Everything so empty, incompatible.Copy !req
217. Emptiness, fear.Copy !req
218. La peur, la peur, la peur...Copy !req
219. Fear.Copy !req
220. Like a small animal,
lost in the woods.Copy !req
221. Who are you?
I don't know any more.Copy !req
222. But I do know:
I will no longer be a trapeze artist.Copy !req
223. Must not cry. That's how it is.Copy !req
224. It happens,
not always as you'd like it.Copy !req
225. Emptiness, such emptiness...Copy !req
226. What shall I do?Copy !req
227. Not think any more.
Just be there.Copy !req
228. Berlin... Here I'm a stranger,
and yet it's all so familiar.Copy !req
229. You can't get lost,
you always end up at the Wall.Copy !req
230. I'm waiting for my photo at a machine,
and it comes out with another face.Copy !req
231. That could be the beginning of a story.Copy !req
232. The faces... I'd like to see faces.Copy !req
233. Maybe I'll find a job as a waitress.Copy !req
234. This evening scares me.Copy !req
235. It's silly, fear makes me sick.Copy !req
236. Only part of me worries,
the other part doesn't believe in it.Copy !req
237. How should I live?
Maybe that's not the question.Copy !req
238. How should I think?Copy !req
239. I know so little. Maybe
because I'm always just curious.Copy !req
240. Sometimes I think so wrongly...Copy !req
241. because I'm thinking
as if I was talking to someone else.Copy !req
242. Inside closed eyes,
close the eyes again.Copy !req
243. Then even the stones come alive.Copy !req
244. To be with the colours.Copy !req
245. Les couleurs. The colours.Copy !req
246. Neon lights in the evening sky,
the red and yellow S-Bahn.Copy !req
247. Longing... longing.Copy !req
248. I only need to be ready.Copy !req
249. Longing for a wave of love
that would stir in me.Copy !req
250. That's what makes me clumsy,
the absence of desire.Copy !req
251. Desire to love.Copy !req
252. Desire to love.Copy !req
253. Don't stare.
Have you never seen anyone die?Copy !req
254. I stink of gasoline.
I can't just... It was all so clear.Copy !req
255. The way they're standing there,
staring at me.Copy !req
256. I should have told her yesterday
that I'm sorry...Copy !req
257. I can't simply...
I've still got so much to do...Copy !req
258. As I came up the mountain
out of the misty valley into the sun...Copy !req
259. The fire on the cattle range,
the potatoes in the ashes...Copy !req
260. the boathouse floating on the lake.Copy !req
261. The Southern Cross. The Far East.Copy !req
262. The Great North. The Wild West.Copy !req
263. The Great Bear Lake.
The Tristan de Cunha Island.Copy !req
264. The Mississippi Delta. Stromboli.Copy !req
265. The old houses of Charlottenburg.
Albert Camus.Copy !req
266. The morning light.
The eyes of the child.Copy !req
267. Swimming near the waterfall.Copy !req
268. The spots of the first drops of rain.
The sun.Copy !req
269. The bread and wine. Hopping.Copy !req
270. Easter. The veins of the leaves.Copy !req
271. The blowing grass.
The colours of the stones.Copy !req
272. The pebbles on the stream's bed.Copy !req
273. The white tablecloth outdoors.Copy !req
274. The dream of the house in the house.Copy !req
275. The dear one asleep
in the next room.Copy !req
276. The peaceful Sunday.
The horizon.Copy !req
277. The light from the room
in the garden.Copy !req
278. The night flight.
Riding a bicycle with no hands.Copy !req
279. The beautiful stranger.Copy !req
280. My father.Copy !req
281. My mother.Copy !req
282. My wife.Copy !req
283. My child.Copy !req
284. The world seems to be sinking
into dust, but I recount...Copy !req
285. as in the beginning...Copy !req
286. in my sing-song voice,
which sustains me...Copy !req
287. saved by the tale
from present troubles...Copy !req
288. and protected for the future.Copy !req
289. Finished with the sweeping
over the centuries as in the past.Copy !req
290. Now I can think only day by day.Copy !req
291. My heroes are no longer
the warriors and kings...Copy !req
292. but the things of peace,
one equal to the other.Copy !req
293. The drying onions equal
to the tree trunk crossing the marsh.Copy !req
294. But no one has so far succeeded
in singing an epic of peace.Copy !req
295. What is wrong with peace
that its inspiration doesn't endure...Copy !req
296. and that its story is hardly told?Copy !req
297. Must I give up now?Copy !req
298. If I do give up,
then mankind will lose its storyteller.Copy !req
299. And once mankind
loses its storyteller...Copy !req
300. it will also lose its childhood.Copy !req
301. I cannot find the Potsdamer Platz.Copy !req
302. Here? This can't be it.Copy !req
303. Potsdamer Platz,
that's where Cafz Josti used to be.Copy !req
304. In the afternoons, I went there
to chat and to drink a coffee...Copy !req
305. and to watch the crowd.Copy !req
306. Before that I smoked my cigar
at Loese and Wolf...Copy !req
307. a renowned tobacconist.Copy !req
308. Just across from here.Copy !req
309. This can't be the Potsdamer Platz.Copy !req
310. And no one whom you can ask.Copy !req
311. It was a lively place.
Tramways, horse-drawn carriages...Copy !req
312. and two cars:
mine and that of the chocolate shop.Copy !req
313. The Wertheim store was here, too.Copy !req
314. And then suddenly,
the flags appeared.Copy !req
315. Here...Copy !req
316. The whole Platz
was covered with them.Copy !req
317. And the people
weren't friendly anymore...Copy !req
318. and the police wasn't either.Copy !req
319. I will not give up...Copy !req
320. as long as I haven't found
the Potsdamer Platz.Copy !req
321. Where are my heroes?
Where are you, my children?Copy !req
322. Where are my own, the dull-witted...Copy !req
323. the original ones?Copy !req
324. Name me, muse,
the immortal singer...Copy !req
325. who,
abandoned by his mortal audience...Copy !req
326. lost his voice.Copy !req
327. He who,
from angel of poetry that he was...Copy !req
328. became the organ grinder
ignored or mocked...Copy !req
329. outside,
on the threshold of no man's land.Copy !req
330. 20 Marks, 40 Marks, 80 Marks.
In a week I could have 500.Copy !req
331. Off to the south.Copy !req
332. What a crazy idea to stand here.
Too much traffic.Copy !req
333. Idiot,
three times he's been this way.Copy !req
334. I want to get out of here.Copy !req
335. If anyone recognises me, I'll be
thrown out of secondary school.Copy !req
336. I need Klaus,
he'd take good care of me.Copy !req
337. He was so good, too good.
And now he's dead.Copy !req
338. Are there still borders?
More than ever.Copy !req
339. Each street has its own border line.Copy !req
340. Between each plot
there's a no man's land strip...Copy !req
341. hidden by a hedge or by a ditch.Copy !req
342. Who dares,
will fall on booby traps...Copy !req
343. or be hit by laser beams.Copy !req
344. The trout in the water
are really torpedoes.Copy !req
345. Every proprietor, or even tenant...Copy !req
346. sticks up his nameplate
like a coat of arms...Copy !req
347. and studies the paper
like a world leader.Copy !req
348. The German people are divided into as
many states as there are individuals.Copy !req
349. And these small states are mobile.Copy !req
350. Each one takes his own with him...Copy !req
351. and demands a toll
when another wants to enter.Copy !req
352. In the form of a fly in amber
or a leather bottle.Copy !req
353. So much for the border.Copy !req
354. But one can only enter each state
with the right passwords.Copy !req
355. Today's German soul can only
be conquered and governed...Copy !req
356. by he who arrives at each small state
with the password.Copy !req
357. Fortunately,
no one is now able to do so.Copy !req
358. So everyone migrates and
raises his own flag all over the world.Copy !req
359. Even their children
shake their rattles...Copy !req
360. and trail their filth around
in circles.Copy !req
361. The medals reflect the best.Copy !req
362. They were elegant, those brothers.Copy !req
363. Could I have light?
- But no flame.Copy !req
364. You're welcome.
- Thank you.Copy !req
365. The only thing I shall miss
from the outside...Copy !req
366. from the realm of light,
will be sparrows.Copy !req
367. Money buys happiness.
How to live?Copy !req
368. The Man in the Golden Helmet
is a swindle.Copy !req
369. You're not natives,
you're all refugees.Copy !req
370. You're wet from swimming.Copy !req
371. I've been sitting here
since this morning...Copy !req
372. I'm so cold and bored.Copy !req
373. Wind in the face,
the first snow in the air.Copy !req
374. Water in the gutter.Copy !req
375. The balcony
with the beautiful stranger.Copy !req
376. Real ones. They look like it.
They could be real ones.Copy !req
377. Some stole food from the dogs
in the camps.Copy !req
378. That would take the grin off your face.
Don't be too sure yet.Copy !req
379. The Frenchman.
I met him in the streets.Copy !req
380. " Berlin won't be there any more,"
Constant said.Copy !req
381. The house was half gone.
Some of it still stood. For how long?Copy !req
382. Yes, I can still see this woman...Copy !req
383. who was standing up there
in the ruins shaking the duvet.Copy !req
384. When was that?
May... June 1945.Copy !req
385. Is he good at what he's doing?
It seems so.Copy !req
386. I'd like to see it.
Maybe he'll give it to me.Copy !req
387. Come, I'll show you something else.Copy !req
388. When the child was a child
it choked on spinach, peas...Copy !req
389. rice pudding
and steamed cauliflower...Copy !req
390. and now eats all of that,
and not just because it has to.Copy !req
391. When the child was a child,
it woke up once in a strange bed...Copy !req
392. but now time and time again.Copy !req
393. Many people seemed beautiful then,
nowadays it's only the odd one.Copy !req
394. It had a precise picture of Paradise,
and now can only guess at it.Copy !req
395. It couldn't imagine nothingness,
and today shudders at the idea.Copy !req
396. When the child was a child,
it played with enthusiasm...Copy !req
397. and now it can only muster it
when it concerns its work.Copy !req
398. Do you recall our first visit here?Copy !req
399. History had not yet begun.Copy !req
400. We let mornings and evenings go by,
and waited.Copy !req
401. It took a long time for the river to find
its bed and the stagnant water to flow.Copy !req
402. Valley of the primeval river.
One day, I still remember...Copy !req
403. the glacier melted
and the icebergs drifted to the north.Copy !req
404. A tree passed by, still green,
with an empty bird's nest.Copy !req
405. Only the fish had leapt
over a myriad of years.Copy !req
406. Then came the moment
when the bees drowned.Copy !req
407. Some time later,
the two stags fought on the bank.Copy !req
408. Then the flies and the antlers,
like branches, flowing down the river.Copy !req
409. All that ever grew again was grass...Copy !req
410. growing over the bodies of wild cats,
wild boar and buffaloes.Copy !req
411. One morning, out of the savannah,
its forehead smeared with grass...Copy !req
412. appeared the biped,
our image, so long awaited.Copy !req
413. And its first word was a shout.Copy !req
414. Was it "ah" or "oh",
or was it merely a groan?Copy !req
415. We were at last able to laugh,
for the first time.Copy !req
416. Through this man's shout and that
of his followers, we learnt to speak.Copy !req
417. A long story.Copy !req
418. Sun, lightning, thunder in the sky...Copy !req
419. and below on earth,
the firesides, the leaps...Copy !req
420. the round dances,
the signs, the writing.Copy !req
421. Then one broke through the cycle
and ran straight ahead.Copy !req
422. As long as he ran straight ahead,
swerving sometimes perhaps from joy...Copy !req
423. he seemed free,
and again we could laugh with him.Copy !req
424. But then, suddenly, he ran zigzag,
and stones flew.Copy !req
425. With his flight began
the history of wars. It is still going on.Copy !req
426. But the story of the grass, the sun,
the leaps and the shouts...Copy !req
427. is still going on, too.Copy !req
428. Do you know how one day
the road was built here...Copy !req
429. which the next day
saw the Napoleon retreat...Copy !req
430. and was paved later on?Copy !req
431. Today it is covered with grass
and sunk in like a Roman road...Copy !req
432. with the tank tracks.Copy !req
433. But we weren't even spectators.
We've always been too few.Copy !req
434. You really want...
- To conquer a history for myself.Copy !req
435. What my timeless downward look
has taught me...Copy !req
436. I want to transmute,
to sustain a glance...Copy !req
437. a short shout, a sour smell.Copy !req
438. I've been outside long enough.
Absent long enough.Copy !req
439. Long enough out of the world.
Let me enter the history of the world.Copy !req
440. Or just hold an apple in my hand.Copy !req
441. Look, those feathers,
there on the water, already vanished.Copy !req
442. Look, the tyre marks on the asphalt,
and now the cigarette butt rolling.Copy !req
443. The primeval river has dried up,
and only today's raindrops still quiver.Copy !req
444. Down with the world behind the world.Copy !req
445. Only the Roman roads
still lead somewhere...Copy !req
446. only the oldest traces
lead anywhere.Copy !req
447. Where is the top of the pass here?Copy !req
448. Even the plains, even Berlin,
has its hidden passes.Copy !req
449. And it's only there that my country,
the country of the tale, begins.Copy !req
450. Why doesn't everyone see
from childhood on...Copy !req
451. the passes, doors and crevices...Copy !req
452. on the ground and above in the sky.Copy !req
453. If everyone saw them, there would be
history without murder or war.Copy !req
454. This time I'm doing it.
Funny I'm so calm.Copy !req
455. Why red socks with black shoes?
Stupid.Copy !req
456. Foggy, cold.
Put on a pullover, afraid to be cold.Copy !req
457. Very good jacket. A bargain.
Just the pocket's torn.Copy !req
458. She gave it to me.Copy !req
459. Pebbles on the roof. Why?
So it doesn't fly away? Nonsense.Copy !req
460. Once I'd like to fly.Copy !req
461. The plane circles over Berlin,
one day it'll crash.Copy !req
462. It's cold. My hands were
always warm. A good sign.Copy !req
463. It crackles underfoot.
What time is it?Copy !req
464. The sun's setting. Logical, the west.
Now I know where the west is.Copy !req
465. I always took the U-Bahn to the east
to go home...Copy !req
466. bought 10 tickets, saved a Mark.Copy !req
467. The sun in my back,
on the left the star.Copy !req
468. That's good: sun and a star.
Her little feet.Copy !req
469. Hopping from one foot to the other.
She danced so sweetly.Copy !req
470. We were all alone.Copy !req
471. Has she got my letter?
I don't want her to read it.Copy !req
472. Berlin means nothing to me...
Havel? Is that a lake?Copy !req
473. Over there Wedding, or what?
The East is everywhere really.Copy !req
474. Strange people, they're shouting.
I don't care.Copy !req
475. All these thoughts.
I'd really rather not think any more.Copy !req
476. I'm going, why?Copy !req
477. Leave me alone, you swine.
- Mother. Mother.Copy !req
478. I'll never make it tonight.
No trapeze on full-moon nights.Copy !req
479. Not the last time, the very last time.Copy !req
480. I should wake up from this dream.Copy !req
481. The end of the circus. Fini.Copy !req
482. And once again I feel
as if night were falling inside of me.Copy !req
483. Fear... Fear of death.Copy !req
484. Why not death?Copy !req
485. The essential at times...Copy !req
486. just being beautiful, and nothing more.Copy !req
487. To look at oneself in the mirror
is to see oneself think.Copy !req
488. So what do you think?Copy !req
489. I think I still have the right to be afraid,
but not to talk about it.Copy !req
490. You're not yet blind,
the heart is still beating.Copy !req
491. And now you're crying after all.Copy !req
492. You'd like to cry
like a very sad little girl.Copy !req
493. Do you know why you're crying?
For whom?Copy !req
494. Not for me.
I don't know for whom.Copy !req
495. I'd like to know. I know nothing.Copy !req
496. I'm a little bit afraid.
It's gone, gone away. It'll come back.Copy !req
497. It doesn't matter.Copy !req
498. Just to be able to say,
like right now, I'm happy.Copy !req
499. I have a story,
and I'll go on having one.Copy !req
500. There it is again,
this feeling of well-being...Copy !req
501. as if inside my body
a hand was softly tightening.Copy !req
502. When the child was a child,
it was the time of these questions:Copy !req
503. Why am I me, and why not you?Copy !req
504. Why am I here, and why not there?Copy !req
505. When did time begin,
and where does space end?Copy !req
506. Isn't life under the sun just a dream?Copy !req
507. Isn't that Columbo?
- Don't think so.Copy !req
508. Not with that moth-eaten coat.
- He wouldn't be out here.Copy !req
509. Well?
- I'm going to enter the river.Copy !req
510. An old human expression
that I only understand today.Copy !req
511. Now or never, moment of the ford.Copy !req
512. But there is no other bank,
there is only the river.Copy !req
513. Into the ford of time,
the ford of death.Copy !req
514. We're not yet born,
so let's descend.Copy !req
515. To look is not to look from on high,
but at eye-level.Copy !req
516. First, I'll take a bath.Copy !req
517. Then I'll be shaved
by a Turkish barber...Copy !req
518. who will also massage me
down to the fingertips.Copy !req
519. Then I'll buy a newspaper and read it
from the headlines to the horoscope.Copy !req
520. On the first day, I'll only be served.
For requests, ask the neighbour.Copy !req
521. If someone stumbles over my legs,
he'll apologise.Copy !req
522. If pushed, I'll push back.Copy !req
523. The bartender will find me
an empty table.Copy !req
524. A car will stop,
and the mayor will give me a lift.Copy !req
525. I'll be familiar to everyone,
suspect to no one.Copy !req
526. I won't say a word,
will understand every language.Copy !req
527. This will be my first day.
- But none of it will be true.Copy !req
528. I'll take her in my arms,
and she'll take me in her arms.Copy !req
529. I think he's drunk.
- Yes.Copy !req
530. Let's go.Copy !req
531. It's got a taste.Copy !req
532. Now I begin to understand.Copy !req
533. Is that red?
- Yes.Copy !req
534. Did you hurt yourself?Copy !req
535. Is today a good day?
- It's okay.Copy !req
536. And the pipes?
- They're yellow.Copy !req
537. Yellow. What about him?
- He's grey-blue.Copy !req
538. Grey-blue. This one?
- Purple.Copy !req
539. This one?
- Orange. Ochre.Copy !req
540. Ochre or orange?
- Ochre.Copy !req
541. Yellow, red... this one?
- It's green.Copy !req
542. And what's that over the eye?
- That's blue.Copy !req
543. Blue.Copy !req
544. Is it very cold?
- It'll soon be over.Copy !req
545. I'd love to have a coffee.Copy !req
546. Do you have money?
- Yes... no.Copy !req
547. I'm glad everything is fine today.Copy !req
548. Beautiful.Copy !req
549. Coffee.
- With milk and sugar?Copy !req
550. Black.Copy !req
551. When the child was a child, it lived
on apples and bread, that was enough.Copy !req
552. And it is still that way.Copy !req
553. When the child was a child, berries fell
only like berries into its hand.Copy !req
554. And they still do now.Copy !req
555. Fresh walnuts made its tongue raw,
and they still do now.Copy !req
556. Atop each mountain
it was longing for a higher mountain.Copy !req
557. And in each city
it was longing for a bigger city.Copy !req
558. And it still does.Copy !req
559. Reached in the treetop
for the cherries...Copy !req
560. as excitedly as it still does today.Copy !req
561. Was shy in front of strangers,
and it still is.Copy !req
562. Waited for the first snow,
and still waits that way.Copy !req
563. When the child was a child, it threw
a stick like a lance into a tree.Copy !req
564. And it's still quivering there today.Copy !req
565. How do I get to Akazienstrasse?
- Go up Potsdamer to Kleistpark.Copy !req
566. Right at Grunewald past Gleditsch,
no right turn at Goltzstrasse.Copy !req
567. Turn left, and there you are.Copy !req
568. This entrance is for the crew.
Extras, the other way, please.Copy !req
569. Extra.
- That's just what you look like.Copy !req
570. They all want autographs.Copy !req
571. Lousy cop.Copy !req
572. Come on, Marion. Don't worry.
It'll be alright.Copy !req
573. I'll send you a postcard
of the Eiffel Tower.Copy !req
574. See you next season.
Don't forget the Alekan Circus.Copy !req
575. Bye Archie, see you next year.
- Au revoir.Copy !req
576. A thousand kisses.Copy !req
577. I'll send you a parcel.
With some Camembert cheese?Copy !req
578. I couldn't say who I am.
I don't have the slightest idea.Copy !req
579. I am someone
with no roots, no story, no country...Copy !req
580. and I like it that way.Copy !req
581. I am here, I am free. I can imagine
anything. It's all possible.Copy !req
582. I only have to raise my eyes,
and once again I become the world.Copy !req
583. Now, in this very place...Copy !req
584. a feeling of happiness
that I could always have.Copy !req
585. What are you doing?
- I'm sitting.Copy !req
586. Are you sad?
- No.Copy !req
587. Are you sick?
- Yes.Copy !req
588. What's the matter?
- A need.Copy !req
589. Oh, that's it.Copy !req
590. A double knot is the only way
to make it hold.Copy !req
591. A need. A need of food perhaps.
- Or a need of drink.Copy !req
592. She isn't gone, Cassiel. I know it.Copy !req
593. I'll find her.Copy !req
594. Something will happen,
something important, tonight.Copy !req
595. She'll teach me everything.Copy !req
596. There are other suns then the one
up in the sky, Cassiel.Copy !req
597. In the deep of the night,
spring will begin today.Copy !req
598. Other wings will grow
in place of the old ones.Copy !req
599. Wings that will at last astound me.Copy !req
600. It must finally become serious.Copy !req
601. I've often been alone,
but I've never lived alone.Copy !req
602. When I was with someone
I was often happy...Copy !req
603. but at the same time
it all seemed a coincidence.Copy !req
604. These people were my parents,
but it could have been others.Copy !req
605. Why was the brown-eyed one
my brother...Copy !req
606. and not the green-eyed boy
on the opposite platform?Copy !req
607. The taxi driver's daughter
was my friend...Copy !req
608. but I might as well have put
my arm around a horse's neck.Copy !req
609. I was with a man, I was in love...Copy !req
610. and I might as well
have left him there...Copy !req
611. and gone off with the stranger
we met in the street.Copy !req
612. Look at me, or don't.Copy !req
613. Give me your hand, or don't.Copy !req
614. No, don't give me your hand,
and look away.Copy !req
615. I think tonight is the new moon.Copy !req
616. No night more peaceful.Copy !req
617. No bloodshed in all the city.Copy !req
618. I've never played with anyone
and yet...Copy !req
619. I never opened my eyes and thought:
Now it's serious.Copy !req
620. At last it's becoming serious.Copy !req
621. So I've grown older.Copy !req
622. Was I the only one
who wasn't serious?Copy !req
623. Is it our times that are not serious?Copy !req
624. I've never been lonely,
neither alone, nor with someone else.Copy !req
625. But I would have liked to be lonely.Copy !req
626. Loneliness means: I am whole at last.Copy !req
627. Now I can say it,
as tonight I'm lonely at last.Copy !req
628. I must put an end to coincidence.Copy !req
629. The new moon of decision.Copy !req
630. I don't know if there is a destiny,
but there is a decision.Copy !req
631. Decide.Copy !req
632. Now we are the times.Copy !req
633. Not only the whole town, the whole
world is taking part in our decision.Copy !req
634. Now we are more than the two of us.
We incarnate something.Copy !req
635. We are sitting
on the People's Square...Copy !req
636. and the whole place is full of people
whose dream is the same as ours.Copy !req
637. We are deciding everybody's game.Copy !req
638. I am ready.
Now it's your turn.Copy !req
639. You hold the game in your hand.Copy !req
640. Now or never.Copy !req
641. You need me.
You will need me.Copy !req
642. There is no greater story than ours,
that of man and woman.Copy !req
643. It will be a story of giants.Copy !req
644. Invisible, transposable.Copy !req
645. A story of new ancestors.Copy !req
646. Look, my eyes.Copy !req
647. They are the image of necessity...Copy !req
648. of the future of everyone in the place.Copy !req
649. Last night I dreamt of a stranger.Copy !req
650. Of my man.Copy !req
651. Only with him could I be lonely...Copy !req
652. open up to him...Copy !req
653. wholly open, wholly for him...Copy !req
654. welcome him wholly into me...Copy !req
655. surround him with the labyrinth
of shared happiness.Copy !req
656. I know...Copy !req
657. it's you.Copy !req
658. Something happened.Copy !req
659. It is still going on. It binds me.Copy !req
660. It was true at night, and it's true
in the day, even more so now.Copy !req
661. Who was who?
I was in her and she was around me.Copy !req
662. Who in the world can claim that he
was ever together with another being?Copy !req
663. I am together.Copy !req
664. No mortal child was begot,
only an immortal common image.Copy !req
665. I learned astonishment that night.Copy !req
666. She came to take me home,
and I found home.Copy !req
667. It happened once.Copy !req
668. Once, and therefore forever.Copy !req
669. The image that we created
will be with me when I die.Copy !req
670. I will have lived within it.Copy !req
671. The amazement about the two of us,
amazement about man and woman...Copy !req
672. has turned me into a human being.Copy !req
673. I know now...Copy !req
674. what...Copy !req
675. no angel knows.Copy !req
676. Name the men, women and children
who will look for me...Copy !req
677. me, their storyteller,
their cantor, their spokesman...Copy !req
678. because they need me
more than anything in the world.Copy !req
679. We have embarked.Copy !req