No Need

 The elephant's trunk
is for picking up pistachios:
no need to bend over.

The giraffe's neck
is for grazing on stars:
no need to fly.

The chameleon's skin,
green, blue, lavender, white,
as it wishes,
is for hiding from ravenous animals:
no need to flee.

The turtle's shell,
is for sleeping inside,
even in winter:
no need for a house.

The poet's poem,
is for saying all of that
and a thousand thousand thousand other things:
no need to understand.


© 2001 translated by F.
J.
 Bergmann

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