Daily Routine in Paradise

Another poem by the cynical Heinz Rudolf Kunze, from the same book as From That Day. I am a Roman Catholic, but I like how he respectfully makes fun of the idea of an Old Man in Paradise. Heinz Rudolf Kunze, “Alltag im Paradies”. Translation by me. Enjoy.

The dear God makes notes to himself on red, heart-shaped slips of paper.
On the attempt to build up his music stand
the dear God asks himself every time
how he could be creating such a shit mud.
The dear God wears long underpants till May
and learns Portuguese at community college.
The dear God still gets a lot of fan post,
mostly from quite young girls.
They want to know which music he prefers to hear
and when he will come to Germany once again.
The dear God seriously tries
to answer every letter, but repeatedly there is
so much to do and some he has already
displaced, like the one recently from Vatican
with the invitation for dinner.
The dear God thinks every night before falling asleep
concentrated about why he has not yet been
divorced. Then he finds out regularly
that he still likes coming home even if it also
draws him out noticeably more often to where ladies wait for him,
give books of poetry to him and dolls and request
Him to stay. His woman is
an atheist, which is good, because this makes sure
that he never gets off too loudly.
The dear God makes notes to himself on red,
heart-shaped slips of paper and calls off for the duration
of the football world championship
all appointments.

.