Abstract

This poem illustrates the desire of poets to capture the rhythms of modern life. Sitting on the terrace at a Berlin café, Paul Boldt (1881–1921) allows sensory impressions to trickle into the aesthetic tableau of his poem.

Paul Boldt, “On the Terrace of Café Josty” (1912)

Paul Boldt

Source

Potsdamer Platz in an endless roar
Glaciates all resounding avalanches
The street complex: trams on rails,
Automobiles and the refuse of mankind.

People trickle over the asphalt,
Ant-like in their diligence, nimble as lizards.
Foreheads and hands, flashing with thoughts,
Swim like sunlight through the dark forest.

Night rain wraps the square in a cavern,
Where bats, white, with beating wings
And lavender jellyfish lie – colorful oils;

They multiply, dissected by the cars. –
Berlin squirts up, glistening nest of the day,
From the smoke of the night like the pus of a pestilence.

Source: Paul Boldt, “Auf der Terrasse des Café Josty”, Die Aktion, Jg. 2, November 13, 1912.; reprinted in Jürgen Schutte and Peter Sprengel, Die Berliner Moderne 1885–1914. Stuttgart, 1987, pp. 328–30.

Translation: Richard Pettit

Recommended Citation

Paul Boldt, “On the Terrace of Café Josty” (1912), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/ghdi:document-729> [September 26, 2025].