Der König saß und sann den leeren Tag
getaner Taten, ungefühlter Lüste
und seiner Lieblingshündin, der er pflag-,
Aber am Abend wölbte Abisag
sich über ihm. Sein wirres Leben lag
verlassen wie verrufne Meeresküste
unter dem Sternbild ihrer stillen Brüste.

 

Und manchmal, als ein Kundiger der Frauen,
erkannte er durch seine Augenbrauen
den unbewegten, küsselosen Mund;
und sah: ihres Gefühles grüne Rute
neigte sich nicht herab zu seinem Grund.
Ihn fröstelte. Er horchte wie ein Hund
und suchte sich in seinem letzten Blute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The king sat thinking all the hollow day.
He thought of done deeds and of unfelt lusts,
and of his favourite bitch, who loved to stray.
But in the evening Abishag would stay
arched over him.  His worried life lay
abandoned like a rough and rude sea-coast
beneath the twin stars of her voiceless breasts.
 
Expert in women, he would sometimes see
from underneath his bushy brows that she,
she wouldn’t let her kissless terse lips twitch;
her verdant fork of feeling did not flood
so that she trickled down into his ditch.
His hairs stood up.  He listened like a bitch
that sought to liberate his own last blood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The king sat down and had a fag
and thought of done deeds and his bitch
and how he’d really love to have a shag
with phwoar! that fit chick, Abishag.
But, just his luck, there was a snag:
his instrument could barely twitch
beneath the naked, sexy witch.
 
And as a playboy extraordinaire,
he sometimes recognised her stare,
her motionless mouth like a hex;
although he felt her fork of flesh
she didn’t feel like having sex.
He shivered, listening like Rex
to when he’d had to burn and crash.

Toh Hsien Min does not speak or write in German.

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