in limping iambs i sang the countersong
how absurd increasingly hedged by clauses in the wake of necessity the fiscal jumble
to harmonize the dusty approach from ptolemaic times
as tycho brahe attempted to mediate the opinions of the popes
with copernican insight and so galilei in his roman prison
until finally kepler's world harmony made an end to confused knowledge
but the curia corrected its world view only briefly before the arrival of trains 
                                                                                                          moving on iron rails
as if not rows nor sails but taxes were driving the boat
taxes which raised a class of tax cheaters
what inanity this procedure of running items
the value of which would be measurable three times more accurately
                                                                                 without the pressures of collection* 
this is not his business concluding too quickly you say to each other
but what counts the chained day in the timestorm that is carrying with it the crows
and what else do you have but a mouthwork which obeys you 
                                                                                                and knows what you want
but what is this? who among you has learned and tested till old age
drank no gall and ate little from the sour dough but explored the art of change
have you gone through lonely schools? have you ever steered ships of thought 
                                                                                                   through seas of errors?
who among you has fraternized with no one and sworn himself to none
or measured and mapped for the first time a world in smaller scale
on his own expense first in kassel then here in the freer city
living in your temperate zone halved country with the girl of boyhood and children
                                                                                                    and parents grown old
even though from your offices you prefer to enforce accounts
turning upward the powdered nose you opulent bitch 
                                                                              and mockingly you twist your mouth
i still want to thank you that you took up with me who defied you
                                                                          and received none of your certificates
except for the paper which permits me to drive on your close-combat roads
rarely enough have you otherwise paid poets decently and regularly 
                                                                                            the insubordinate strangers
for such a purpose money was always lacking in your cash box 
                                        and even those who sell themselves received little enough
still glued as they are to your threshold while in mallorca and fiji
ventriloquists you need of your petty pleasures and venal contradictors 
                                                                                          on the occasions of injustice
no not ready for this nor to lull more profoundly
by murmuring and lukewarm gossip your sleep-craving children
not for election speeches ceremonious lectures but a thorn in the side 
                                                                                                             for you lazy horse
which always longs for the stable the musty one full of rats
and of its own free will does not want out to leave behind its old habits
thus stayed with you whom you were feeding letting him dwell in the yellow house 
                                                                          like david not better was doing in zion
 
 
 
 

Note: "without the pressures of collection" refers to the critique of the tax system and the improvement proposed in "der satz des 
pythagoras" (am euphrat, pp.69-74)