Mirror | rorriM

Vi Azoi Trinkt Der Kayser Tey?

Raboysay, Raboysay, khakhomim ohn a sheer,
Ikh vihl aykh fregn, ikh vihl aykh fregn:
Entfert mir alleh oyf mayne shayleh:
Vi azoy trinkt der Kayser tey? Vi azoy trinkt der Kayser tey?

Men nemt a hittele tsuker,
Uhn men makht a lokh, Uhn men gist areyn dem tey,
Uhn men misht uhn men misht uhn men misht.

Oht azoy, oht azoy, oht azoy trinkt der Kayser tey!

Raboysay, Raboysay, khakhomim ohn a sheer,
Ikh vihl aykh fregn, ikh vihl aykh fregn:
Entfert mir alleh oyf mayne shayleh:
Vi azoy est der Kayser bulbes? Vi azoy est der Kayser bulbes?

Men nemt a vant mit putter,
Uhn men shtelt avek dem Kayser mit an oyfen moyl,
Uhn tsvey soldatten mit armatten
Shteyn uhn shissen dem bulbes glaykh dem Kayser in moyl areyn!

Oht azoy, oht azoy, oht azoy est der Kayser bulbes.

Raboysay, Raboysay, khakhomim ohn a sheer,
Ikh vihl aykh fregn, ikh vihl aykh fregn:
Entfert mir alleh oyf mayne shayleh:
Vi azoy shloft der Kayser bay nakht? Vi azoy shloft der Kayser bay nakht?

Men nemt a tsimmer mit federn,
Uhn men schlaydert areyn dem Kayser,
Uhn a truhp soldatten mit armatten
Shteyn a gantse nakht Uhn shreien, “SHAH! SHAH!”

Oht azoy, oht azoy, oht azoy shloft der Kayser bay nakht.

“They call you ‘Little Man’, ‘Common Man’; they say a new era has begun, the ‘Era of the Common Man’. It isn’t you who says so, Little Man. It is they, the Vice Presidents of great nations, promoted labour leaders, repentant sons of bourgeois families, statesman and philosophers. They give you your future but don’t ask about your past.

You are heir to a dreadful past. Your heritage is a burning diamond in your hand. that is what I tell you.

Every physician, shoemaker, mechanic or educator must know his shortcomings if he is to do his work and make his living. For some decades, you have begun to play a governing role on this earth. Iris on your thinking and your actions that the future of humanity depends. But your teachers and masters do not tell you how you really think and are; nobody dares to voice the one criticism of you which could make you capable of governing your own fate. You are ‘free’ only in one sense: free from education in governing your life yourself, free from self-criticism.

I have never heard you complain: ‘You promote me to be the future master of myself and the world, but you don’t tell me how one is to be the master of oneself, and you don’t tell me the mistakes in my thinking and my actions.

You let men in power assume power ‘for the Little Man’. But you yourself remain silent.

See yourself as you really are. Listen to what none of your leaders and representatives dares tell you: You are a “little, common man.” Understand the double meaning of these words: “little” and “common.”

Don’t run. Have the courage to look at yourself!