In the Lake Region

When you open the door, everything falls into place—

the little ferry by the wharf, fir trees and thujas.   

An old woman, feeding ducks, seems as old as Leni   

Riefenstahl. At the base of the hill, chestnut trees, not yet in full bloom,   

are younger—but probably as old as her films.   

All is wet and bright. A hedgehog or God-knows-whose-soul   

is rummaging in last year's leaves. Dead water and living water   

fill the plain. The twins Celsius and Fahrenheit   

are predicting spring weather—while a shadow obscures   

the past (just like the present). The first serene weeks scour the bridges   

in a peaceful corner of Europe between Wannsee and Potsdam—where   

much has happened, but, probably, nothing more will.   

For days we have been watching a ragged crow—in the garden,   

sometimes on the roof. The ancients would have said her   

stubbornness augurs something. Emerging from the wood's   

depths, she lights on one antenna crossbar   

then another, her surface bright as mercury   

in a thermometer's glass. But these are fever marks   

we are incapable of understanding. The beginning of agony?   

The past does not enlighten us—but still, it attempts   

to say something. Perhaps the crow knows more about us   

and about history's dirt than we do ourselves.   

Of what does she want to remind us? Of the black photos, the black headphones

of radio operators, black signatures under documents,   

of the unarmed with their frozen pupils—of the prisoner's boot or the trunk   

of the refugee? Probably not. We will remember this anyway,   

though it won't make us any wiser. The bird signifies only stoicism   

and patience. If you ask for them, your request will be granted.