We die Erde wohnbar
  machen will


Wer die Erde wohnbar
   machen will
Und freundlicher

Den lacht man aus

Jagt ihn fort
   in stinkende Sümpfe

Dann vergißt man ihn

Doch sein Werk ist nicht
   verloren

Den fernen Nachfahren
   bringen es
Leichtfertige Komödianten
   wieder zurück.



Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Copyright © 1986 Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich
All rights reserved




Who Wants to Make
    the World a Place to Stay

Who wants to make
   the world a place to stay
And kinder

Is sent-up

Driven away
   into stinking swamps

Then he’s forgotten

But his work is not
   lost

Slack-off comedians
   will return it
To descendants
   in the distance.



Translated from the German by Daniele Pantano
DANIELE PANTANO is a poet, translator, and editor.  He was born in  Langenthal, Switzerland, of Sicilian and German parentage.  An exile,  he currently lives in Brandon, Florida, with his wife and their two 
children.
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