TO THE SIMPLE MAN

When every wall is hid by many

new posters freshly pasted up,

when ‘to the people’, ‘to the Army’,

in black print stare appeals alarming,

and any dolt, and any pup

will take for gospel each old lie

that one should go and shoot off guns

and murder, poison, rob, at once;

start drumming into all our noggins

the ‘Fatherland’; the mob incite,

bamboozle with bright-coloured slogans,

egg on with ‘Our historic right’,

‘every inch’, ‘glory’, ‘sacred borders’,

with ‘our forebears’, ‘pay the price’,

with ‘heroes’, ‘flag’ and ‘sacrifice’;

when bishop, pastor, rabbi come

to say a blessing on each gun,

for God has told them, that His will

is that for Country – you should kill;

when gutter tabloid screams and rages

in letters huge on its front pages,

and herds of females lose their voice

throwing bouquets at ‘our brave boys’,

– O, my untutored simple friend,

mate from this land, or other land!

Know that the bells for these alarums

kings strike, with girls with ample charms,

Know it’s all hogwash, lies perverted,

And when these call out: ‘Shoulder arms!’

That somewhere from the ground oil spurted,

With dollars soiling the bright colours;

That in their banks there’s something rotten,

They smelled some moneybags, it looks,

Or cooked some scheme, the oily crooks,

For higher import tax for cotton.

Drum on the pavement with your gun!

Ours the blood, the oil is theirs!

And through each capital and town

Scream out, to guard your cash blood-won:

‘Tell us another, noble sirs!’.  

Julian Tuwim

(1894 - 1953)

translated by:   

Marcel Weyland (Sydney)