<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;" class="">To Those Born After Us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Truly, I live in a time of darkness!</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The innocent word is foolish. A smooth brow</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Suggests lack of sensitivity. Those who are laughing</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Just haven’t heard the terrible news yet.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">What kind of times are these,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When a conversation about trees is almost a crime,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Because so many misdeeds are left unspoken?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">That person there – calmly crossing the street,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Is probably no longer available</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To his friends who are in trouble.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">It’s true: I’m still earning a living.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">But that’s pure coincidence.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Nothing in what I do justifies my eating my fill.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">By chance, I am spared. (When my luck runs out, I’m lost).</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">People say to me: Eat and drink! Be glad that you can.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">But how can I eat and drink, when what I eat</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Is taken from the mouths of the hungry, and the</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Water I drink deprives one who is thirsty?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">But still…I eat and I drink.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I would like to be wise.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">In ancient books one can read what is wise:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To not participate in the conflicts of the world,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To be without fear, in the short time we have,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Also to get along without violence,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To requite evil with good,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">To not satisfy one’s wishes, but to forget them –</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">These things are considered wise.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">All of them are beyond me.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Truly I live in a time of darkness!</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">II. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I came into the cities at a time of disorder,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">A time of hunger.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I came among people at a time of uproar,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And I was outraged with them.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">So passed the time</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I was given on Earth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I took food between battles,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And laid down to sleep among killers.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I was careless in love,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And regarded nature without patience.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">So passed the time</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I was given on Earth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">In my time, all roads led to a swamp.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">My language gave me away to the executioner.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I could do very little. But the rulers</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Sat more securely without me – that was my hope.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">So passed the time</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I was given on Earth.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">III. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">You, who are the ones who will rise up</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">From the flood in which we went down,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Remember,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When you speak of our weaknesses,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The dark times from which you escaped.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We travelled, changing countries more often than shoes,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Through the wars between classes, in despair</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Because we found injustice, but no outrage.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And yet we do know this:</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Hatred, even of meanness,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Distorts the visage.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Anger, even at injustice,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Makes hoarse the voice. Alas,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Though we wanted to prepare the ground for kindness,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We didn’t know how to be kind ourselves.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">But you, when the time comes,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When human beings can help one another,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Remember us</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">With forbearance.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Bertolt Brecht </div></div></body></html>