WORLD CHANGING POET #2 BRECHT

A PLAYWRIGHT WHO CHANGED WORLD DRAMA

WAS ALSO A REMARKABLE POET

One thing that  must strike anyone who reads this poet is how clear and direct he is.  He is  said to have  kept a  toy stuffed  Donkey on his writing desk and to it  he affixed a sign that read-
-EVEN I MUST UNDERSTAND.

He  did this to combat the allures of the difficulty and opaqueness of much of modern poetry. He refused the SEVEN DEGREES OF AMBIGUITY-- the template of esteem in modern poetry criticism.
In that way he delayed the embrace of his own work in poetry. 

 Now  his work  has come to be regarded as a breakthrough in German Literature
Also he took up difficult even awkward  topics.
When you read the one I  have included here, you will see that he takes up something that is usually not discussed--the fact that those who are trying to lead  mankind to a better life are often themselves so unkind and unpleasant.

A poem written by Bertolt Brecht



TO THOSE WHO CAME AFTER

I

To the cities I came in a time of disorder

That was ruled by hunger.

I sheltered with the people in a time of uproar

And then I joined in their rebellion.

That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.

I ate my dinners between the battles,

I lay down to sleep among the murderers,

I didn't care for much for love

And for nature's beauties I had little patience.

That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.

The city streets all led to foul swamps in my time,

My speech betrayed me to the butchers.

I could do only little

But without me those that ruled could not sleep so easily:

That's what I hoped.

That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.

Our forces were slight and small,

Our goal lay in the far distance

Clearly in our sights,

But for me myself beyond my reaching.

That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.

II

You who will come to the surface

From the flood that's overwhelmed us and drowned us all

Must think, when you speak of our weakness in times of darkness

That you've not had to face:

Days when we were used to changing countries

More often than shoes,

Through the war of the classes despairing

That there was only injustice and no outrage.

Even so we realised

Hatred of oppression still distorts the features,

Anger at injustice still makes voices raised and ugly.

Oh we, who wished to lay the foundations for peace and friendliness,

Could never be friendly ourselves.

And in the future when no longer

Do human beings still treat themselves as animals,

Look back on us with indulgence.

HUMAN ALL TOO HUMAN

This poem is reaching its hand right to us and asking that we not judge the people in history who fought to make our lives better. I think of this poem  when I read about some character flaws in  progressive people  in our own history like Martin Luther King or MalcomX or even Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.  We should redouble our praise because  these people were as we are all shaped and often mis-shaped by the limitations and  practices of their time and place.  Yet they rose  above their personal flaws and historical handicaps and social biases  to imagine and help to create a better world for all of us to live in.