I’m not worried about the book …
… The book has been around for a long time.
You can carry it with you
And open it anywhere.
Immediately and without waiting
You can start reading.
Sitting, lying, kneeling
Completely without batteries.
When flying, driving, walking –
A book never stops.
When eating, cooking, seasoning
A book cannot shut down.
The majority of the other media
Will go away in their own time.
Hardly have they been switched on
It is said: They are outdated!
And no longer compatible –
Off into the rubbish bin
To join tapes, films, records
Which we once loved
And which now are only rubbish.
Because the devices are gone,
Never to return,
There is nothing to see, to hear.
Unless you are smarter
And stick with books from the start
Which in a hundred years
Will still be what they have always been:
Very readable and regardable,
They stand unremovable
In bookcases and on shelves
And their owners are beaming:
They have really kept well!
The book will never be outdated.

Robert Gernhardt
(translatet by Christoph Bange)