Walnut Poem by Aleš Šteger

You have remained empty-handed and you have a walnut in your hands.
At first you squeeze it and hide it like some magic,
But then everything squeezes you and you know that you must
React and kill the magician to survive.
In the middle of the walnut there is a kernel, but you don't care about it,
You need the solution which is inscribed on the inside of the shell.
The agony is too great, so you squeeze the empty fist and break the walnut.
It grows silent, the broken signs become incomprehensible
And the answer sphinx-like, but through the gaps you climb inside
And eat the kernel. So you make room for yourself. So you become the kernel.
And the kernel becomes You. You squats and waits
For the shell to grow around it. Like some kind of foetus
He squats and waits while in the walnut there is less and less light,
And fewer and fewer wounds. Slowly You can begin to read the signs
And the signs are more and more whole.
You reads aloud, but when he reaches the end
The shell grows complete and night falls around You. Caught in the dark,
You hears how a white rabbit with murderous teeth jumps out of a hat
And stops in front of the walnut, looking at it intently.

Translated by Evald Flisar