A TERRIFYING DEATH

by Daniil Kharms
translated from the Russian by Alex Cigale

 

 

Once upon a time, a man, feeling hungry, sat at the table and ate cutlets.
Beside him sat his wife, rambling on about the cutlets not containing enough pork.
Nevertheless he ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, until he sensed somewhere in the pit of his stomach a morbid heaviness.
In that moment, having moved aside the food, he began to tremble and cry.
The gold watch in his pocket ceased to tick.
His hair suddenly lightened a shade, and his vision brightened.
His ears tumbled to the floor, as in autumn the yellow leaves do from the poplars, and he dropped dead.

April 1935

 

 

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