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Disclaimer: Poem copyrighted to Till Lindemann. This post does not include photos/illustrations of said poem from 'Messer'. The original German text is also not included. This is only a interpretive translation and accuracy is not guaranteed.
Nele (1)
Don't do that
Don't touch that
Because you can get burnt -
Don't do that
Oh, stop it!
That will hurt and then you will cry!
You can eat
Spoiled meals
And not become spoiled yourself
And not stink
And lick the fire from the ruptured scar
And know, that in the end, that you are sick
Just stay and watch
Oh, stop it!
My fear for you is so great
That those sacred words, they look so small
But my body should rust
So that you would have gold and silver
My child, because of you no sorrow comes
I would eat shit
I would drink pus
Plate my backside with silver
So that I may buy silver dolls for you
Just stay and watch
Don't do that
Oh, stop it!
You do not have to feel cold,
The illness will go by itself -
Only the gods may touch you.
And then I will be with you
I will be with you -
Be with you.
Nele (2)
Darling child, please don't let me cry
Please forgive me for my weak brain
It is not the fault of the heart
I would be there right now
And kiss you on your young forehead
My love for you is always pure
I have asked the fishes in the brook
The flowers on the meadow range
The birds and the beetles
And all of them have said:
We will rise, and just for you
we shall hang a thousand candles from the sky
So that your life will only ever be dark
When you close your beautiful eyes
Then I think of you - and the night
Gives way to a warm, bright shine.
Notes: Italics indicate translated lines that I am very much not sure of.
Comments: I won't comment on those poems. There is no need for me to.
All it matters is that I cried. For both of them. Hits entirely too close to home for me. I triggered and thus I put the trigger warning there. Lambast me for that choice if you wish.
The motif of 'Tu das nicht/Lass das sein' ('Don't do that/let it be', poetically translated as 'stop it' in 'Nele') is reused, out of all things, in B********.
I have Messer also, though I'm not that great at reading German, myself. I always took the line:
ReplyDelete'Plate my backside with silver/So that I may buy silver dolls for you'
to mean that he'd sell his himself so that she could have those dolls. Could be wrong, though. Who knows when it comes to Till's poetry, he's a strange, often surreal fellow.
I took that line as: Till is a father, but not the best at all, and thats why he speaks of silver; not gold because he points that he will never be the best, number one father but he will do everything for his daughters delight. As such, he knows to settle to silver and not to reach for gold because he knows deep inside that he can never. And this is as speaking about me, and thats why i see it like that.
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