Till Lindemann's 'Messer' - "Hasslich"

Ugly, you are simply ugly.

(Poem no. 16 out of 54, located pg. 44 of ‘Messer’, 2010 print.)

Disclaimer: Poem copyrighted to Till Lindemann. This post does not include photos/illustrations of said poem from 'Messer'. The original German text is also not included. This is only a interpretive translation and accuracy is not guaranteed.



Ugly

Oh, because no one can see
Under my hideous face
Beats a beautiful heart
Oh, woe, take my wild fury from
The flesh-sea of my greedy lust
The ship has still not traveled
Oh God, touch me!
Spit your heavenly cascade
Over my enchanted visage
Then for you I would pray
Oh God, make me beautiful!
I would oil the Bible and lick the flies on the cross
Feasting upon the filth of angels
I would gift my soul to you
For a little grace on my visage
So that I may use it for my lust
So that I may secude the enchanting
The lovely nymphs
Who only look upon their equals
Give me this - and forgive me, because
- I want it all.

Original Meter: There is no consistent meter.

Original Rhyme Scheme: None.

Comments: A companion piece to 'Meine Mutter Ist Blind' of sorts, and very reminiscent of 'Morgenstern'. The same word, 'Ungesicht' is used in both this poem and that song to denote a face that is so hideous that it might as well not be a face at all.

...Morgenstern, ach scheine
auf das Antlitz mein!
Wirf ein warmes Licht
auf mein Ungesicht
Sag mir ich bin nicht alleine
Hässlich... du bist hässlich!

...Morning Star, oh shine
on this visage of mine
Cast a warm light
onto my hideous face
Tell me that I'm not alone
Ugly... you are ugly! 

I also had problems trying to figure out lines 4 and 5. Eventually settled on what I already had, except that I thought 'Fleischmeer' was probably better translated as 'sea of flesh' - but 'sea of flesh of my greedy lust' doesn't sound as good. Too many 'of's.