Allees fade, so avenues fade. Artifice fades, and the

art school fades. Accordions fade, and awnings

fade. Arcades fade. The city fades.

Blackbirds fade, and bed rest fades. Brambles fade,

and the birth plan fades. The Brutalist hospital

fades, and the balcony fades. Mashed bananas fade.

The city fades.

Cement fades, and childhood fades. Cherry

blossoms fade, and the courtyard fades. Colloid

prints fade, and the chestnut fades. Park chess fades.

The city fades.

Deposit bottles fade. Dive bars fade. Dogs off

leashes fade, and allotment discos fade. Damson

tarts fade. Doubt fades. Death fades. The city fades.

Eyelashes fade. Edgeland elderflowers fade. Elegies

fade, and the ersatz fades. Exile fades. Euphoria

fades. Essence fades. The city fades.

Foto-Fritz fades. A fox in moonlight fades. Fervor

fades, and the foxglove fades. Floating swimming

pools fade. Façades fade. The city fades.

Gin bars fade. The gig economy fades. Green tea

lattes fade, and horn-rimmed glasses fade.

Gentrification fades. Grace fades. Greed fades.

The city fades.

Hotels fade. Hotel lobbies fade. Home fades – steps

in the hall, the hum of the hob, hands warming

hands. The hearth fades. Heat fades. The city fades.

Ice skaters in Grunewald fade. The ineffable fades.

Honeycomb ice cream fades. The invincible fades.

Icewine fades. The inevitable fades. The city fades.

January fades, and Joseph Roth fades. June fades,

and juice fades. July fades, and Joseph Beuys fades.

Justice fades. The city fades.

Kindergarten crocodiles fade. Knots fade.

Knowledge fades. Kohlrabi fades. Kebabs fade.

Kale fades. Kaffee und Kuchen fades. The city

fades.

Linden leaves fade. Luck fades. Linden honeydew

fades. The lyric fades. Linden blossoms fade. Loss

fades. Love fades. The city fades.

Marble fades. Moss fades. Museums fade. A mother

fades. The memorial fades. Memory culture fades.

Memories of the mother fade. The city fades.

Newness fades, and newsprint fades. Newlyweds

fade, and the newborn fades. The new year fades.

Now fades. The city fades.

Opera glasses fade. Oak parquet fades. Octagonal

tiles fade. Opulence fades. Opals fade. Orchestras

fade. Otium fades. The city fades.

Peonies fade, and the Prussian palace fades.

Peacock Island fades, and the People’s Palace fades.

The ersatz palace fades. Playgrounds fade. The city

fades.

Quartz in asphalt fades. Quietude fades. Quiescence

ades. A quickened pulse fades. Quivers fade, and a

quaver fades. The city fades.

Rabbits at dusk scatter. River ice floes melt. The

rose garden withers. Rhubarb spritzers mist. A train

at twilight dissolves. But the city fades.

Starlings fade. The solstice fades. Stucco fades, and

the Soviet memorial fades. Silence fades. School

cones fade. Swans fade. The city fades.

Trash collectors fade. The tacit fades. A toddler

fades. A toy pony fades. Traffic fades. Terror fades.

The turning TV Tower fades. The city fades.

Unknowing fades. The U2 to Schönhauser Allee

fades. The universal fades. The U4 to Bayerischer

Platz fades. The underground fades. The city fades.

Vergangenheit fades, so the past fades. The Victory

Column fades. Vanilla dumplings fade. Verdigris

fades. Virtue fades. Vertigo fades. The city fades.

Watermelons fade. Whimsy fades. Wasps fade.

Willows fade. The Wall fades. Window boxes fade.

Wonder fades. The city fades.

X-rayed bones fade. Xenophobia fades. Xeroxed

apartment ads fade. A child’s brass xylophone

fades. X’d-out names fade. The city fades.

Yesterday fades. Yeasted rolls fade. Yellow trams

fade. Yachts on Wannsee fade. Yearning fades.

Years fade. Yes fades. The city fades.

Zeit fades, so time fades. The zeitgeist fades, and

the zero fades. Zukunft fades, so the future fades.

The zenith fades. The city fades.

— after Inger Christensen’s Alfabet