Paul Celan

“No Hand Holds Me Either”

NO HAND HOLDS ME EITHER, I was born just like you were,
and no one throws me luck in this hour, no different than you,
who’s immersed in bull’s blood like me,

yet the numbers stand ready to light up the teardrop
that springs out of our navel
into the world,

yet enters into the great syllabary script,
which approaches me, one on one,

and the almond-scrotum
thunders
and blossoms.

— translated from the German by Jack Hirschman