Poem by the Danish writer Jens August Schade (1903-78)

At the Café

A good song,

a crazy small miracle

comes from the gramophone

while I stay silent.

And to everyone’s amazement

I push back my chair

and stay sitting in the air.

In front of me sits a girl

with ugly teeth

and flighty eyes.

She stays silent.

- Both of us know

what’s going in inside the other,

and strong as lions our souls kiss.

She rises into the air,

and I do too,

we find each other

there above the tables.

And to roars and applause

at the miracle of the song

we intertwine

and roundabout out of the café.