Bertolt Brecht Holocaust Poem: Radio Poem
Radio Poem
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
You, little box, held tightly
to me
during my escape,
so that your delicate tubes do not break;
carried from house to house, from ship to train,
so that my enemies may continue communicating with me
by land and by sea
and even in my bed, to my pain;
the last thing I hear at night, the first when I arise,
recounting their many conquests and my cares,
promise me not to go silent in a sudden
surprise.
Translator's Note: I take Brecht's poem literally. I can imagine him fleeing the Nazis with a radio in his possession, using it to receive the news of their conquests as his litany of cares mounted. Bertolt Brecht 1898-1956 was a major German playwright, poet, novelist, humorist, essayist, theater director and songwriter. Brecht fled Germany in 1933, when Hitler assumed power. A number of Brecht's poems were written from the perspective of a man who sees his country becoming increasingly fascist, xenophobic and militaristic. Keywords/Tags: Holocaust, poem, poems, Bertolt Brecht, German, translation, Germany, radio, tubes, valves, transmission, communication, travel, escape, flight, flying, exile, land, sea, pain, despair, Nazi, conquests, victory, victories, losses, cares, silence, war, World War II
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