Poesie ist noch nicht einmal annähernd meins, gebe ich offen zu. Wie viele Gedichte ich im Laufe meines Studiums interpretiert habe, kann ich an einer Hand aufzählen, und A.K. Ramanujans Verse zählen ganz offensichtlich nicht dazu. Wenn mir auf Anhieb drei Werke einfallen, für die ich mich immer wieder begeistern kann, dann sind es wohl, in keiner bewussten Reihenfolge, diese.

T.S. Eliot, "Journey of the Magi":



Erstes Semester, wenn nicht sogar mein erstes Referat: Man merkt's an der Akribie, mit der ich mich vorbereitet habe. (Lang, lang ist's her ...)

---

Dann: Philip Larkin, "This Be The Verse":



---

Und dann: Langston Hughes, "Life is fine":

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!