—You are in your house conversing with friends. Someone knocks at the half-door. You say: “Come in.” It is just the person about whom you were talking, for worse rather than better. How irritating!
—You have found your cows stealing from the field of a watchful neighbor. How regrettable!
—A friend arrives at your house. He’s coming from far away. It’s time for dinner. You have nothing in the house, or in your hand to turn into a meal. How ashamed you are!
—You are tired. Exhausted. Dogs come to howl in your courtyard during the night. You cannot relax. How exhausting!
—Mice are running in the granary above your bed. You would like to be a cat.
—You are not inclined to look closely in your mirror. However, you have seen a friend from an earlier time and you found her quite old. You pay attention to your own face. And, good God, how unpleasant the tableau!
—For days you have been waiting for letters from friends. You stand on look-out at the hour of the mail-carrier. Nothing.
—Today. The Hour, you think, has passed, you go to your work. Returned, you find two letters … One to pay your taxes, one to pay the subscription to your newspaper … Such a deception!
—You had an urgent letter. You go to the side of the road to watch for the mail-carrier. You see fresh tracks of his bicyle. How angry you are!
—You had invited friends over. You had prepared some delicacies. In vain you awaited your friends. Some other people came later, and gobbled all your special dishes. At last those whom you have invited arrive. Nothing but scraps left. How odious it is for you!
—It looked like rain. You had placed a bucket under the roof. You wake up during the night, and you hear the irregular tik tik tek. The bottom of the bucket is not yet filled, you think. Will this awful music stop soon?
—The tik tik tek tek does not stop… Until the morning… Your bucket had a hole in it!
June 1965.
Translated by Lenora Timm
