The elephant’s trunk
is for picking up pistachios:
no need to bend over.
The giraffe’s neck
is for grazing on stars:
no need to fly.
The chameleon’s skin,
green, blue, lavender, white,
as it wishes,
is for hiding from ravenous animals:
no need to flee.
The turtle’s shell,
is for sleeping inside,
even in winter:
no need for a house.
The poet’s poem,
is for saying all of that
and a thousand thousand thousand other things:
no need to understand.
© 2001 translated by F.J. Bergmann
(Alain Bosquet)
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Based on Topics: Literature Poems, Winter Poems, Poets Poems, Poetry Poems, Animals PoemsBased on Keywords: flee, wishes, saying, trunk, hiding, bend, shell, sleeping, elephant, translated, picking