Inventory
This is my cap,
this is my coat,
here's my shaving gear
in a linen sack.
A can of rations:
my plate, my cup,
I've scratched my name
in the tin.
Scratched it with this
valuable nail
which I hide
from avid eyes.
In the foodsack is
a pair of wool socks
and something else that I
show to no one,
it all serves as a pillow
for my head at night.
The cardboard here lies
between me and the earth.
The lead in my pencil
I love most of all:
in the daytime it writes down
the verses I make at night.
This is my notebook,
this is my tarpaulin,
this is my towel,
this is my thread.
____________________
Gunter Eich
Valuable Nail
translated from the German by
Stuart Friebert, David Young & David Walker
Field, 1981
