Questions From A Worker Who Reads
Who built Thebes of the seven gates?
In the books you will find the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?
And Babylon, many times
Who raised it up so many times?
In what housesof gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?
Where, the evening that the Wall of China was
Did the masons go?
Great
Is full of triumphal arches.
Who erected them?
Over
Did the Caesars triumph?
Had Byzantium, much praised in
Only palaces for its inhabitans?
Even in fabled
The night the ocean engulfed
The drowning still bawled for their slaves.
The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Did he not have even a cook with him?
Philip of Spain wept when his
Went down.
Was he the only one to weep?
Frederick the Second won the Seven Year's War.
Else won it?
Every page a victory.
Who cooked the feast for the victors?
Every ten years a great man?
Who paid the bill?
So many reports.
So many questions.
Bertolt Brecht
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