[With the voice of the fieldmouse]

By Paul Celan

With the voice of the fieldmouse

you squeak up to me,

a sharp

clip,

you bite your way through my shirt to the skin,

a cloth,

you slide across my mouth

midway through the words

I address to you, shadow,

to give you weight.

Copyright Credit: Paul Celan, “[With the voice of the fieldmouse],” translated by Michael Hamburger, from Poems of Paul Celan. Copyright 1972, 1980, 1988, 1995 by Michael Hamburger. Reprinted with the permission of the Persea Books, Inc.