Die alte Frau, die alte Marschallin!
Not good any more, not beautiful –
Not even young.
This isn’t mine.
Where is the old one, the old ones?
Those were mine.
It’s so: I have pictures,
Not such old ones; people behaved
Differently then … When they meet me they say:
You haven’t changed.
I want to say: You haven’t looked.
This is what happens to everyone.
At first you get bigger, you know more,
Then something goes wrong.
You are, and you say: I am –
And you were … I’ve been too long.
I know, there’s no saying no,
But just the same you say it. No.
I’ll point to myself and say: I’m not like this.
I’m the same as always inside.
– And even that’s not so.
I thought: If nothing happens…
And nothing happened.
Here I am.
But it’s not right.
If just living can do this,
Living is more dangerous than anything:
It is terrible to be alive.
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