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VOLUME XLIV * No. 172 * Winter 2003
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VOLUME XLIV * No. 172 * Winter 2003

Highlights

István Kemény

POEMS

Translated by Richard Burns and George Gömöri

 

Elves' Morning Song
A koboldkórus délelőtti dala

Grow up and keep growing or we'll thrash the daylights out of you.
All we're after is some weirdo who gives us the creeps.
How old are you now, eight? In that case we'll beat the hell out of you.
All of the other kids - that's who we are.

And this is just our song for the morning.

We're a bunch of wankers, what this says is made for wankers,
So don't you dare go and put them down in your diary.
And watch it coz you'll be followed home all the way from school.
So you'd better keep growing or we'll thrash the daylights out of you.

And this is just our song for the morning

Whenever you take a shit remember we'll be watching you,
So keep growing or when you're ten you'll still be shitting in front of us!
All we're after is some weirdo who gives us the creeps
How old are you now, over twelve? In that case we'll beat hell out of you.

And this is just our song for the morning

You'd better keep on growing coz we'll grow even faster
And run on in front of you and wait for you with our own kids.
You'll get twenty years off without hearing a word from us
But if you're still on your own then, that's when we'll do you in.

 

 

István Kemény
studied Hungarian and History. He has so far published two volumes of prose, a volume of essays and ten collections of poems.

 
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