Kafka Dozen

Part Two

Part Three

ONE

Mornings....

And these mornings,
You look out of the window,
Move the chair        
away from the bed
And sit down to coffee.

And these evenings,
You prop up your arm
And hold your ear
         in your hand.
Yes, if only that weren't all!

TWO

He Has Only....

He has only the moment,
the everlasting moment
of torment;
He has only one thing
always: his pain;
He has only as much ground
as his two feet take up
.....only as much of a hold
as his two hands encompass.

This Bachelor

This bachelor
     with his thin clothes,
            his art of prayer,
            his enduring legs,
            his lodgings
     that he's afraid of,
     with his otherwise patched-                    up existence
     now brought out again
                 after a long period -
This bachelor holds
                 all this together -
     with his two arms.........

As If

It is as if I were made of stone   
as if I were my own tombstone.
There is no loophole                   
     for doubt or for faith,        
for love or repugnance,   
for courage or anxiety,    
in particular or in general,
Only vague hope lives on,         
but no better than           
the inscriptions on tombstones.