In Dark Times

by Bertolt Brecht, translated from the German by Humphrey Miles

 

They won’t say: when the walnut tree shook in the wind

But: when the house-painter crushed the workers.

They won’t say: when the child skimmed a flat stone

across the rapids

But: when the great wars were being prepared for.

They won’t say: when the woman came into the room

But: when the great powers joined forces against the

workers.

However, they won’t say: the times were dark

Rather: why were their poets silent?

 

 

house-painter: Brecht’s personal code for Adolf Hitler