A Poem for Halloween: "Der Werwolf"

"Der Werwolf" by Christian Morgenstern is an absolutely hilarious German poem that's generally thought to be untranslatable – so I was delighted to run across a creative English adaptation by Alexander Gross here. "Der Werwolf" is an extended play on the fact that "wer" is "who" in German; in his English version, Gross instead plays on "were" as a form of "to be" in English, and the hapless werewolf is conjugated where the Werwolf is declined.

The German text is as follows: ( Read more... )

And here is Gross' English adaptation:

A Werewolf, troubled by his name,
Left wife and brood one night and came
To a hidden graveyard to enlist
The aid of a long-dead philologist.

"Oh sage, wake up, please don't berate me,"
He howled sadly, "Just conjugate me."
The seer arose a bit unsteady
Yawned twice, wheezed once, and then was ready.

"Well, 'Werewolf' is your plural past,
While 'Waswolf' is singularly cast:
There's 'Amwolf' too, the present tense,
And 'Iswolf,' 'Arewolf' in this same sense."

"I know that--I'm no mental cripple--
The future form and participle
Are what I crave," the beast replied.
The scholar paused--again he tried:

"A 'Will-be-wolf?' It's just too long:
'Shall-be-wolf?' 'Has-been-wolf?' Utterly wrong!
Such words are wounds beyond all suture--
I'm sorry, but you have no future."

The Werewolf knew better--his sons still slept
At home, and homewards now he crept,
Happy, humble, without apology
For such folly of philology.