“Disinterment”

Once there was a picket fence
Of interstitial excellence.

An architect much liked its look;
Protected by the dark he took

The interspaces from the slats
And built a set of modern flats.

The fence looked nothing as it should,
Since nothing twixt its pickets stood.

This artefact soon fated it,
The senate confiscated it,

And marked the architect to go
To Arctic -- or Antarctico.

-- Christian Morgenstern

Very interesting: any idea who the translator was? I have a version translated by R.F.C.Hull, who has translated many (perhaps all?) of Morgenstern's poems, which, whilst essentially the same, is very different in approach, as follows:

The Fence

There was a fence with spaces you
Could look through if you wanted to.

An architect who saw this thing
Stood there one summer evening,

Took out the spaces with great care
And built a castle in the air.

The fence was utterly dumbfounded:
Each post stood with nothing round it.

A sight most terrible to see.
(They charged it with indecency.)

The architect then ran away
To Afric- or Americay.

Christian Morgenstern
[trans. R.F.C.Hull]

Interesting different approaches

This is the German original, for those whose Deutsch is up to it!
(Which doesn't include me!)

Der Lattenzaun

Es war einmal ein Lattenzaun,
mit Zwischenraum, hindurchzuschaun.

Ein Architekt, der dieses sah,
stand eines Abends plötzlich da -

und nahm den Zwischenraum heraus
und baute draus ein großes Haus.

Der Zaun indessen stand ganz dumm,
mit Latten ohne was herum.

Ein Anblick gräßlich und gemein.
Drum zog ihn der Senat auch ein.

Der Architekt jedoch entfloh
nach Afri- od- Ameriko.

All I remember was the translator was named Ross (surname).

The machine at Google translates in rote like this..


The Picket Fence

Once there was a picket fence,
with space, through zuschaun.

An architect who saw this,
was one evening when suddenly -

and took out the space
out of it, and built a large house.

The fence was however quite stupid
with battens without which around.

A horrible sight and mean.
Drum drew him to the Senate also.

The architect, however, escaped
to Afri-od-Americo.

IT IS GOOD TO LIVE IN AFRI-OD-AMERICO.