Who raised it up so many times?
I have been walking around with a copy of this poem in my pocket for a while…
Questions from a worker who reads
by Bertolt Brecht
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 demolished
Who raised it up so many times? In what houses
of gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?
Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finished
Did the masons go? Great Rome
Is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song
Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled Atlantis
The night the ocean engulfed it
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 armada
Went down. Was he the only one to weep?
Frederick the Second won the Seven Years War. Who
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.
Absolutely LOVE this poem. Terrific choice Red.
Reminds me of being a kid & hearing “And then Pharoah built the pyramids” and marvelling “On his own?!” & the teacher saying “No no, that means he ordered them to be built” & me thinking “But you said…” It has never quite sounded natural when people describe enormous acts like invasion or building or transforming & attributing them to a handful of individuals. The names of kings indeed.
So many questions… yes. I’m going to read the poem again now. It’s ace on stilts. Thanks Red.
Thanks for that. The poem had been in my pocket for a slightly different reason… but your comment reminds me of the fact that I’m often inclined to look at big buildings – it was Battersea Power Station that first triggered the thought – and wonder how many people worked building it and how many died.
I’ve always been cheery like that. The partial destruction of the building – thanks Margaret Thatcher – made me think of the long ago builders.
I think my other thought about people who built things is going to be a separate post…
Probably also worth noting the difficulty of finding online pics of Babylon – many times demolished – that have not been snapped by US or UK soldiers, participants in some recent demolition work…