An apple lies on a dish
at an open window –
if it could think that apple would think:
is this overripe then, a deaf feeling…
it is still sweet,
but is already growing tired as only an apple
can grow tired,
it wrinkles and fades,
it is a warm day, nothing grabs at what’s round it
and nothing happens
and a hand picks it up, turns it round
and throws it through the window –
if it could be surprised that apple
would be surprised and think:
is this at one’s wit’s end then,
or is this supreme confusion?
The evening falls, worms make a beeline,
and it would think:
if I could still shine I would still shine now…
that would be
its last thought.

Antonius Otto Hermannus (Toon) Tellegen (1941) je nizozemski pisatelj, pesnik in zdravnik, znan po knjigah za otroke, zlasti tistih, ki prikazujejo poosebljene živali, zlasti poesmice in zgodbice o mravlji in veverici. V njegovih spisih uživajo tudi odrasli zaradi zabavnih, bizarnih situacij, ki jih ustvarja Tellegen, pa tudi njihovega ravnanja s filozofskimi temami.

Krasna pesem, krasen prevod!