To Posterity Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBBCB BDBEBF GHIJK LMJJM BBNDOBFBPBB QRGSTJ BUBBTJ VQJWTJ XGMBDY BGB ZQA2BJBB2 BC2BJ B| A | |
| - | |
| Indeed I live in the dark ages | B |
| A guileless word is an absurdity A smooth forehead betokens | B |
| A hard heart He who laughs | B |
| Has not yet heard | C |
| The terrible tidings | B |
| - | |
| Ah what an age it is | B |
| When to speak of trees is almost a crime | D |
| For it is a kind of silence about injustice | B |
| And he who walks calmly across the street | E |
| Is he not out of reach of his friends | B |
| In trouble | F |
| - | |
| It is true I earn my living | G |
| But believe me it is only an accident | H |
| Nothing that I do entitles me to eat my fill | I |
| By chance I was spared If my luck leaves me | J |
| I am lost | K |
| - | |
| They tell me eat and drink Be glad you have it | L |
| But how can I eat and drink | M |
| When my food is snatched from the hungry | J |
| And my glass of water belongs to the thirsty | J |
| And yet I eat and drink | M |
| - | |
| I would gladly be wise | B |
| The old books tell us what wisdom is | B |
| Avoid the strife of the world | N |
| Live out your little time | D |
| Fearing no one | O |
| Using no violence | B |
| Returning good for evil | F |
| Not fulfillment of desire but forgetfulness | B |
| Passes for wisdom | P |
| I can do none of this | B |
| Indeed I live in the dark ages | B |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| I came to the cities in a time of disorder | Q |
| When hunger ruled | R |
| I came among men in a time of uprising | G |
| And I revolted with them | S |
| So the time passed away | T |
| Which on earth was given me | J |
| - | |
| I ate my food between massacres | B |
| The shadow of murder lay upon my sleep | U |
| And when I loved I loved with indifference | B |
| I looked upon nature with impatience | B |
| So the time passed away | T |
| Which on earth was given me | J |
| - | |
| In my time streets led to the quicksand | V |
| Speech betrayed me to the slaughterer | Q |
| There was little I could do But without me | J |
| The rulers would have been more secure This was my hope | W |
| So the time passed away | T |
| Which on earth was given me | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| You who shall emerge from the flood | X |
| In which we are sinking | G |
| Think | M |
| When you speak of our weaknesses | B |
| Also of the dark time | D |
| That brought them forth | Y |
| - | |
| For we went changing our country more often than our shoes | B |
| In the class war despairing | G |
| When there was only injustice and no resistance | B |
| - | |
| For we knew only too well | Z |
| Even the hatred of squalor | Q |
| Makes the brow grow stern | A2 |
| Even anger against injustice | B |
| Makes the voice grow harsh Alas we | J |
| Who wished to lay the foundations of kindness | B |
| Could not ourselves be kind | B2 |
| - | |
| But you when at last it comes to pass | B |
| That man can help his fellow man | C2 |
| Do no judge us | B |
| Too harshly | J |
| - | |
| translated by H R Hays | B |
Bertolt Brecht
(1)
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