BRITTA HOFFMANN

BRITTA HOFFMANN

THEY LIVE

"You need to eat:

You need to be

just like us - in reality

you need your meat"

That's what I was told

- all these things are getting old

But each time I was feeling bad,

like I was doing something wrong:

For each death I was feeling sad

- but I was told - this is just how things belong

So I said that things must change,

because eating meat just seemed so strange

"Eating meat is natural

- we need it to survive..."

But to me animals, too, should stay alive

- even if meat gets cheaper at the mall

With each year going by I learned some more:

By now I know much better than before

Healthier is to eat plant-based

- animals don't need to suffer at all

It just happens when people's minds stay small...

But there is even more to be faced:

Even nature is effected, too,

by each choice of food that's made by you

I could just go on all day,

explaining for all to understand:

This is not like a game to play

- each animal could be a friend

We should understand these beings in whole:

They feel, they live - they have a soul

WHO AM I?

Can you tell me who you see

the moment that you look at me?

Didn't time make me change a lot

adding characteristics to the ones I’d got?

Am I still the one you used to know

or am I like another person that seems to show?

Is the change more physically

or don't you know me spiritually?

I know that much time has passed

since the time we saw each other last

- that many circumstances are different now,

that we learned lessons that made us grow...

For some reason you seem like before,

when I look at you I feel dragged down to your core…

Though I know there must be some change

I don't see too much that had to rearrange

Even if you change - no matter what you do -

something didn't: I will still be there for you

REMEMBERING YOU

Is it really so

that you keep you wonder

where I am about to go?

So much that you keep to ponder

if I even remember you?

Let me tell you - yes, I do.

Let me make you see

what my days are like mostly:

I wake up, still sleepy as can be,

a memory in my head - still ghostly

Eyes that I never could forget

that keep haunting me since we met

I keep hoping you're ok

- but there is no guarantee,

so I'm just working through my day,

just doing duty after duty...

If I should have time to rest

my heart often puts me through a test

Because I know you inside,

because I  know I can't be there,

because I like the person that you keep to hide,

because I know that I will always care...

So when I try to sleep at night

I'll dream of you - to be able to sleep tight

No matter where you are

it is you I'm thinking of:

The thought of you is never far

- a bittersweet pain that's known as love

Do you still wonder what I feel?

It is a pain  that only you can heal

Ever since I went away

I wished that I could come back

- even though I wouldn't know what to say,

for there is so much that I lack

I keep sending best wishes your way, too,

simply because I can't help to always think of you

BRITTA HOFFMANN

BRITTA HOFFMANN was born 1970 in Germany, she lives close to Bremen. Her mother tongue is german – as is her nationality. She left school in 1989, and got married in 1991. She has 3 daughters. She started to write poetry in 2002.