So, cover, Zeus, your sky <br />with clouds, <br />and practice, <br />like the boy, <br />on thistles, <br />decapitation, <br />on oaks and mountain ranges. <br /> <br />My earth is mine, <br />you cannot take <br />the hut you did not build <br />nor yet my kitchen hearth <br />whose fires <br />you begrudge. <br /> <br />I know no more pathetic ones <br />under the sun <br />than you, the Gods! <br />You nourish, barely, <br />through taxes and <br />donations, <br />as well as prayer breath <br />your majesty, <br />who'd surely starve <br />if children, beggars, <br />and hopeful fools <br />did not exist. <br /> <br />I was a child, <br />knew not the rules <br />and turned my erring eye <br />up to the sun, <br />as if to find <br />a higher ear to listen <br />to my pain. <br /> <br />A heart like mine <br />with mercy for a troubled soul. <br /> <br />Who helped me fight <br />against the Titans' arrogance, <br />who saved from death <br />or slavery this man? <br />It was MY holy, glowing heart <br />betrayed by one above, <br />who slept and now <br />expects my thanks. <br /> <br />Why would I honour you, for what? <br />And, did you soothe my pain <br />or dry the tears of those <br />who lived in fear? <br />It was the might of time <br />that forged a man, <br />eternal fate to masters, <br />yours and mine? <br /> <br />And, did you fathom I should hate <br />all life and flee to deserts, <br />while leaving dreams <br />of budding flowers well behind? <br /> <br />Here I sit, creating humans, <br />an image after mine, <br />its gender matters not, <br />to suffer and to cry <br />in joy and happiness. <br />And, just like I, <br />with no respect for you.<br /><br />Herbert Nehrlich<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/goethe-translated-prometheus/
