CHRISTOPH JANACS, AUSTRIA
Sirens 2
The song of sirens,
awakening me from a dream
on Saturday afternoon.
The howl of low-flying aircraft,
while mother runs
pushing the baby buggy
in front of her, screaming,
the patter of impacts,
as she holds her hands
protectively over the grandchild,
as if she could
keep off death,
and decades
later she still talks about it,
as if it all
happened yesterday:
an absurd scene
that never ends.
CHRISTOPH JANACS, Austria, 1955
Translation Germain Droogenbroodt
from “Postcards from the Sea,” Edition Tandem, Salzburg 2021
