The lad says, "two or none"
And the card pirouettes, it is gone.
He threw it in... too late to take it back,
This is the last backing from the deck:
"A young life-prospect".

The card turns up - on the lad's
Forehead a bloody pearl is bled.
The backing is last - he grants,
So now without hope, alone ,
He has to deal with the loan.

In front of him there is a new bridge,
The flags are still swinging on it.
Today it was consecrated by faith,
With cheerful procession and peace.
It got the name "Margit the Saint".

He walks to the middle where the parts
Are held together by shiny clams.
Around midnight the sky is dark,
The cities are still alive,
Under the bridge there are thousand of stars.

As soon as the clocks hit twelve,
Some without, some with bells,
The lad stares into the river of stars,
Where between the waves shadows rise:
Grizzled, child, youthful, and wife.

First a head grows up to cheeks,
Turns around to sweep the place.
Then the whole body secedes,
And the crew start to jubilate:
"New bridge! Lets go consecrate."

"Come on! ..who is first today? The pair?!"
In white a stripling and a maid
Are hugging tightly on the bridge and wait:
"You are mine and I'm yours then."
So they duck - as it really happened.

Clap follows it: "The millionaire is next.
Don't be afraid my dear old friend."-
"If all debtors of mine had run away,
This escape would be more respectful to me,"
Then the water splashes underneath.

In the sequel others come unbidden:
The third, the forth, and the tenth.
"I let my only chance go by."
"I let my honor say goodbye,
Though I had had it through my whole life."

Turn follows turn between the waves,
Here or there where they disappear,
And a boy comes: " I learned an important thing
You are nothing without a tin.
They didn`t give me - so I skip."

A respectful bachelor with white beard
Slowly trudges to the edge of the bridge
"I carried it 'til I could.
The entity: even though it was cold.
Receive me throat of gulf!"

Bored face with half make up,
A genteel lady sluggishly comes up.
"O, miserable life: all the time
I have to dress and undress day'n'night"
The water engulf another life.

A huge man's frame - he roars -
Dashes on the bridge with noise.
"I am the warlord of this squadron
That will beat up Napoleon."
Others whisper, " He is a moron".

Behind this man a pitchy boy pops up
And simperingly hooks on his duds.
They dive together into the vertiginous Danube:
"My master waiting for his shoes,
Well, let him just wait for those."

"I'm wealthy", says someone else,
"But I can't enjoy it anywhere."
"I was loyal until the end,
In exchange they took my sister."
All disappear in the channel.

"I made a resolution in duel:
The cartridge goes first to the goal."
"I left behind my shamefacedness,
Lo this became my foe and madness.
Now, this flume is my groom."

Thus, not only one by one -in nest-
They are jumping into death.
Like fish in running streams
Or group of dickies on the fields,
They fly, they wing, they sleek...

It is pouring with giant tears,
Bubbles' dancing underneath,
In semicircle the suicidal group
Buzzes on the way up’n’down.
The Danube hardly sustains.


The lad watches, but he can't see
His mind's clouded, his eyes’re dim,
But as the dangerous swirl
Is getting denser and denser,
He feels its twist to fasten on him.

Like reacting force to the drift -
He breaks the magic of the ring,
Worldly arm has no power over
When the clocks hit one:
The bridge is empty, - silence's everywhere.