Petr Král: Epilogue

The brand-new monolith fallen on the small fortress
and an inexorable crack in the small fortress where in future
the top of the nearly-new monolith
will be overgrown with grass
over and above it swollen wrapped in an ammunition belt
and finally dumped by the woods, a cow
I arrived at the woods but by the woods there was shit all there
if only they had chucked an American flag over it
I would curl it back and seeing what it was would cover it up again

But this shit all was alone in the midst of a world
which was quiet
hopelessly off-course, a dead mouse and a broken condom between two
passing tram-cars
there was no point in adding anything to this

I was leaving for ever already
when for a change I caught a nearby whiff of magnetic tape
I messed up the grass a bit but finally I found it
played it through on the spot
The silence remained silence
were it not for the weak farting noise about midway I’d never have known
to this day
that I am not the only one waiting here for orders

(1967)

Translated by James Naughton