Paul Klee

Individuality

Individuality?
is not of the substance of elements.
It is an organism, indivisibly
occupied
by elementary objects of a divergent character:
if you
were to attempt division, these parts
would die.
 

Myself,
for instance: an entire dramatic company.
 

Enter an ancestor, prophetic;
enter a hero, brutal
a rake, alcoholic, to argue
with a learned professor.
A lyrical beauty, rolling her eyes
heavenward, a case
of chronic infatuation --
enter a heavy father,
to take care of that.
enter a liberal uncle -- to arbitrate. . . .
Aunt Chatterbox gossiping in a corner.
Chambermaid Lewdie, giggling.
 

And I, watching it all,
astonishment in my eyes.
Poised, in my left hand
a sharpened pencil.
 

A pregnant woman!, a mother
is planning
her entrance--
Shushhh! you
don't belong here
you
are divisible!
She fades.
 

Paul Klee
(Translated by Anselm Hollo)