lunchbox feast

sale

Gunter Grass

I've sold out, all I owned , the lot.

Four flights of stairs they came up,

rang the bell twice, out of breath,

and paid down their cash on he floor ,

since the table too had been sold.

while i was selling it all,

five or six streets from here they expropriated

all the possessive pronouns

and sawed off the private shadows

of little innocuous men.

I've sold out , all I owned ,the lot,

There's no more to be had from me .

Even my last and tiniest genitive,

a keepsake long treasured devoutly,

fetched a good price in the end.

All I owned is sold now ,the lot.

My old chairs -I sent them packing.

The wardrobe -I gave it the sack.

The bed -I stripped them ,exposed them

and lay down beside them, abstemious.

In the end all I,d owned had been sold.

The shirts were collarless, hopeless

the trousers by now knew too much;

to a raw and blushing young cutlet

I made a gift of my frying -pan

and all that was left of my salt