Bertolt Brecht

Die das Fleisch wegnehmen vom Tisch

Lehren Zufriedenheit.
Die, für die die Gabe bestimmt ist
Verlangen Opfermut.
Die Sattgefressenen sprechen zu den Hungernden
Von den grossen Zeiten, die kommen werden.
Die das Reich in den Abgrund führen
Nennen das Regieren zu schwer
Für den einfachen Mann.

Those Who Take the Meat from the Table

Teach Contentment.
Those for whom the taxes are destined
Demand sacrifice.
Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry
Of wonderful times to come.
Those who lead the country into the abyss
Call ruling too difficult
For ordinary men.

The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered 
there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. 
But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, 
a blanket of silence spread.
When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!"

When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. 
When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. 
The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.

― Bertolt Brecht, Selected Poems