O brother,
I will drink the cup of inspiration for you tonight,
I do not know if you hear me, you are far away,
But I know, your substance exists somewhere,
Somewhere, at some point on the globe.

You remember, I think, how we slept outside on summer nights,
Brother, counting the stars together,
In eight minutes, you said, the sun’s light reaches us,
But the stars are far away, look, the sky’s vault is full.

You remember, I think, how you told me our bones contain phosphorus,
And our bones will become glowworms when we are dead,
But we were not frightened of death,
Because it does not in fact exist.

II
Don’t you see, brother, a question mark on the horizon
The size of Cheops’ Pyramid, the Himalayas,
With a round point like a snake at its feet?

Never mind, your substance exists somewhere,
In the noose of the question-mark curled round the world,
And our bones contain phosphorus,
And glowworms fly among the flowers at dusk.

What a modern night! The most modern of the nights of this globe,
But it is still a night, the stars are far away. The moon is pale,
The sun’s light reaches us in eight minutes,
And all we have left is the phosphorous of our bones!

What a modern night!
But your substance sill exists somewhere.

1987

Translated: John Hodgson