If You Think About It

After my dad died, as executor, I had to go through all of his personal effects including stacks of documents. I never knew him to be in any way poetic or wistful. Other than writing down some basic facts of his life in his grade 6 level printing, he didn’t express any interest in the arts or any abstract homey wisdom. That’s why I was taken by surprise when I found the following among his papers. Of course the writing was in German, and although I can speak, read, and write German in a limited way, translation of the German language is complex and can change depending on any differences in dialect or context. It might just be nonsense but it is an artifact from a simple man with a tragic history.

In German:

Wenn Du denkst Du denkst, dann Denkst Du den gedanken das Du Denkst doch das Denken von gedanken ist gedanken, loses Denken darum Denke ich nie gedacht zu Haben.

The Translations:

When you think you think, then you think the thought that you think but thinking of thoughts is thoughts, loose thinking about it I never think I thought.

When you think you think, then you think the thought that you think, but thinking thoughts is thinking, loose thinking, which is why I never think I have thought.