Questions from a Worker who Reads

Bertolt Brecht, 1935

Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ? In the books you will read the names of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ?

And Babylon, many times demolished, Who raised it up so many times ?

In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live ? Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?

Great Rome is full of triumphal arches. Who erected them ?

Over whom did the Caesars triumph ?
Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants ?

Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it, The drowning still cried out for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India. Was he alone ?

Caesar defeated the Gauls. Did he not even have a cook with him ?

Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down. Was he the only one to weep ?

Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War. Who else won it ?

Every page a victory. Who cooked the feast for the victors ?

Every 10 years a great man. Who paid the bill ?

So many reports.

So many questions.