Brecht : " To Those Born Later "

You who will emerge from the flood
In which we have gone under
Think,
When you speak of our failures,
Also of the dark times
Which you have escaped.

For we went, changing countries more often than our shoes,
Through the wars of the classes, despairing
When there was only injustice and no rebellion.

And yet we know:
Hatred, even of baseness,
Distorts the features.
Anger, even against injustice,
Makes the voice grow hoarse. Oh, we
Who wished to lay the foundations of human kindness
Could not ourselves be kind.

But you, when the time comes at last
When man is helper to man
Think of us
With forebearance.