The Booklet

The calendar marks off the day
the booklet and the writer.
The unsuspecting reader gave
the booklet and the pointer.

The booklet strikes it off in a flash
and reads the sentences in that space.
The booklet strikes the eyes shut
and yet gave him all the places.

* * *

Das Büchlein

Der Kalender zeichnet ab den Tag,
das Büchlein und den Schreiber.
Der ahnungslose Leser gab,
das Büchlein und den Zeiger.

Das Büchlein schlägt er auf im nu,
und liest hieraus die Sätze.
Das Büchlein schlägt die Augen zu,
und gab ihm noch die Plätze.

* * *

Notes

I've taken slight liberties in the second stanza in order to maintain something of the rhyming going on in the original.

Herbeck wrote this poem and the poem just beneath it ("The Brooklet") on the same day, September 5, 1967.