Showing posts with label silence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silence. Show all posts

18.7.07

Ringelnatz on silence

Silence

There are some people who bow
To those given to extended silence
With a serious brow.

And then there are those who resent
Contemporaries with a silent bent.

All in all, noone should confuse
Silence with a statement that is of much use.

Johannes Beilharz

An attempted English paraphrase of the following poem by Joachim Ringelnatz (1883-1934):

Schweigen

Manche Leute verneigen
Sich gerne vor Leuten, die ernsten Gesichts
Langdauernd schweigen.

Manche Leute neigen
Dazu, zu grollen, wenn andere schweigen.
Schonet das Schweigen! Es sagt doch nichts.