Christian Morgenstern: The guinea fowl

The guinea fowl

The guinea fowl counts: one, two, three, four …
Pray what is all that counting for,
Out there among the deep dark pine trees?

The bird, driven by knowledge’s itch,
And doing so without a glitch,
Is counting what it’s worth in guineas.

– Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914)

Translated from German by Johannes Beilharz (© 2008)

The original can be found at Garden of Literary Confusion.

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~ by James Steerforth on January 25, 2008.