whether you want to or not, you need
an open ear for the hardships of
temporary fellow passengers,
then you experience jammed in and
pressed position where the shoe pinches
for fellow humans who overflow with
chattiness, here you can collect
examples of the urge to share,
wedged in the mass of humanity,
second class open carriage, concentrated
short notice by chance, here you still
live with the certainty of not having
lost the ground beneath our feet, that's
what pacifies the fellow travelers' torment,
you can't have you head in the clouds here like
certain people as soon as they are abducted
to other regions by the impotent omnipotence
or selected as representatives and just
merely capable of listening to themselves,
intoxicated by the prepackaged
phraseology, rather be a dear train
traveler and register the lamentations
of unavoidable phenomena of
long-distance travel, bustling
savvy sales representatives
like the man next to you, for instance,
from the animal feed industry,
who doesn't have it easy,
if his lament isn't just bluster,
now he won't just go and
pour out his heartbreak
like Mother Hulda making the bed
till no fluff is left in the ticking:
what occupies me is a merciless job,
oh, you have to be on your toes
if you want to keep up, the agricultural
co-ops in the east are tough as nails,
the guys are tough as nails, truly hard as nails.

Translated by Bradley Schmidt