Saturday, August 8, 2009

Life

A poem based on a famous Israeli folk song

When God introduced animals to this earth
He gave each twenty years from their birth to their death.
Twenty years to the donkey, twenty years to the hog,
twenty years to the monkey, and the same to the dog.

"Twenty years in the water?
That's too long" said the fish
"You can give half of that
to whomever you wish."

The man who heard that immediately said
"It's still better than death.
I am willing to take it
for whatever it's worth."

Then came the rabbit and said to the Lord
"Oh, thank you my Lord, this is more than enough
I would readily settle for half of this life
in which every damned day is a fight to survive."

God looked around and then saw the man
"Are you ready for more?" he asked him again
"Of course," said the man "I don't see why not.
If they give, you should take. This is what I was taught."

and so, one by one, every creature on earth
gave some of their lives to the man who loathed death
until, at the end, there was not one complaint
except for the man who is never content.

Ever since then, men have very strange lives
For the first twenty years they live like they should
but the rest is a mixture and not quite as good -
they work like a horse, eat like a pig, and fight to survive.