Journeys

I’ll come back for twenty days.
I’ll go off for twenty new ones.
See me off and cry, but not for long.
Life… is no film. Nor is it chains.

And if one day I come with a plea,
some day or some evening, to your door,
and ask if I may stop with you,
don’t reach out to me with a smile.

I come back to the memory in you.
In you I see nothing but that.
And far off again… dives and steppe…
I will lose. I can’t do otherwise.

I’ll come back for twenty days.
I’ll set off for twenty new ones.
Smile for a moment. Say nothing.
This is no film. And you wear no chains.