Anne Frank - Heberto Padilla

In front of Cologne Cathedral

—divided by two black columns—

once more the children

are taking up their songs.

I have watched them playing:

mostly, I have noticed,

they jump from one song to the next,

from one tune

to another.

And today I was given the photo

of your thin fading face,

child, now arrived in your high Hebrew heaven.

And how odd

that I am now sitting on this bench

(a few steps from the Rhine)

watching the water go by,

for I had long thought

that blood would have flowed . . .

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Heberto Padilla (1932-2004) Cuba

Translated by Alastair Reid and Andrew Hurley

Source: FSG: Work in Progress