These are modern English translations of poems written in German by Bertolt Brecht, who fled Nazi Germany along with Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and many other German intellectuals. Thus Bertolt Brecht was writing from bitter real-life experience.



The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.

Then a banished writer, one of the best,
scanning the list of excommunicated texts,
became enraged — he'd been excluded!

He rushed to his desk, full of contemptuous wrath,
to write fiery letters to the incompetents in power —
Burn me! he wrote with his blazing pen —
Haven't I always reported the truth?
Now here you are, treating me like a liar!
Burn me!



Parting
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We embrace;
my fingers trace
rich cloth
while yours encounter only moth-
eaten fabric.
A quick hug:
you were invited to the gay soiree
while the minions of the "law" relentlessly pursue me.
We talk about the weather
and our eternal friendship's magic.
Anything else would be too bitter,
too tragic.



The Mask of Evil
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

A Japanese carving hangs on my wall —
the mask of an ancient demon, limned with golden lacquer.
Not altogether unsympathetically, I observe
the bulging veins of its forehead, noting
the grotesque effort it takes to be evil.



Radio Poem
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

You, little box, held tightly
to me,
escaping,
so that your delicate tubes do not break;
carried from house to house, from ship to train,
so that my enemies may continue communicating with me
on land and at sea
and even in my bed, to my pain;
the last thing I hear at night, the first when I awake,
recounting their many conquests and my litany of cares,
promise me not to go silent all of a sudden,
unawares.



Bertolt Brecht Epigrams and Quotations

Everyone chases the way happiness feels,
unaware how it nips at their heels.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The world of learning takes a crazy turn
when teachers are taught to discern!
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Unhappy, the land that lacks heroes.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Hungry man, reach for the book:
it's a hook,
a harpoon.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Because things are the way they are,
things can never stay the way they were.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

War is like love; true ...
it finds a way through.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

What happens to the hole
when the cheese is no longer whole?
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It is easier to rob by setting up a bank
than by threatening the poor clerk.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Do not fear death so much, or strife,
but rather fear the inadequate life.
— Bertolt Brecht, loose translation by Michael R. Burch