I sat on my balcony and looked…

I sat on my little balcony and looked
At Naunhofer Street: aspens
Swayed in the wind. Everything
had died away, even my love.
My son
Was playing at the nursery. I
Went to fetch him. This scenario
Was abruptly interrupted
When the GDR fell to its knees.
Relax,
I say to myself now, think of the friends
Who had nothing better to do
Than say nothing, while I spoke, and
What I said went on file.
But I still thought,
Aren’t they people like you? –
Time has passed, somehow
I have up to now outlived
That which wanted to destroy me, but I too
Am not the same as I
Once was. I
Too have translated Poe’s RAVEN.