INVENTORY

This is my cap,
my coat,
my shaving kit
in the burlap bag.

 

This tin can:
my plate and my cup,
I scratched my name
in the soft metal.

 

Scratched it with this
precious nail,
which I keep out of sight
of thieving eyes.

 

In my bread bag is
a pair of woollen socks
and some other things
I don’t tell anyone about,

 

it serves me as a pillow
for my head at night.
This piece of card I lay
between my body and the ground.

 

The pencil lead
is my favorite:
by day it writes out lines
that come to me at night.

 

Dies ist mein Notizbuch,
dies meine Zeltbahn,
dies ist mein Handtuch,
dies ist mein Zwirn.

 

This is my notebook,
this my canvas,
my towel,
my thread.