Laufen English translation
von Ina Müller

Every afternoon at four, my blinds go down
My neighbors speculate, “What’s going on at Mrs. Müller’s now?”
The windows are all fogged up, my clothes are soaking wet
While a well-trained man walks out my front door, you bet
It’s not what it looks like, sadly not what you think
There was lots of groaning and plenty of twists in sync
It’s not erotic, but still something private
We used to party all night — now we’re doing Pilates

I used to want to be faster, higher, stronger, better
Now my goal’s just to be almost as high as yesterday’s letter
They say, “You can do it, but no pain, no gain”
I’m not here for prizes anymore — I’m just fighting against the strain


At some point I planned to run a marathon one day
Now I’m this close to buying a stairlift, I’d say
I tried Nordic walking four times, but then it came to mind
I may be old, but not that old — so I left it behind

I went to a yoga class, though not of my own volition
My favorite pose: “Old lady on her back” position
I wanted to swim every morning, every morning, you see
Now I feel like I’m newborn — just 50 years older, that’s me

I used to want to be faster, higher, stronger, better
Now my goal’s just to be almost as high as yesterday’s letter
They say, “You can do it, but no pain, no gain”
I’m not here for prizes anymore — I’m just fighting against the strain

And you run, and you run, and you run
Through the park, your daily track
And I run, and I run, and I run
To the kiosk on my corner, right back
And when we meet, I’ll tell you plain
“It’s going fine — we’ve all got our own six-pack to carry again”

Oh, I can’t take any more