 | War poems with some others |  |
20
Crederit quia Absurdum
To the Fuehrer
I
You say in Mein Kampf, ‘When you have to lie don't lie in a minor key;It would not convince the people, not even coming from me.’
So when you lie for a purpose you lie on a superscale,
And the average man will not believe that you could invent the tale.
The absurd he will readily swallow. Maybe; but bethink you first,
When you lie, of the frog in the fable who swelled so big that he burst.
II
Wer einmal lügt, den glaubt man nicht
Und wenn er auch die Wahrheit spricht.
Und wenn er auch die Wahrheit spricht.
‘Who once has lied’—I learned in youth
The precept in an old refrain—
‘Will never be believed again
Not even when he tells the truth.’
But you with purpose to deceive
Remodelled that old rhyme
To ‘Lie not once but all the time,
And many people will believe.’
| War poems with some others | |