The Brook

--Robert Walser (trans. Daniele Pantano)

There babbles a brook

that just wants to be on its own.

Trees with their branches

dip down to the ripples

that only want to flow,

happily jump over one another. 

A poet sits by lamplight

and scribbles a short poem,

life forms a circle dance,

some are talking, others are silent.

What he shall not accomplish,

he gives and takes in abundance.