AT THE HOUSEFLY PLANET

- Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914)

Upon the housefly planet
the fate of the human is grim:
for what he does here to the housefly,
the fly does there unto him.

To paper with honey cover
the humans there adhere,
while others are doomed to hover
near death in vapid beer.

However, one practice of humans
the flies will not undertake:
they will not bake us in muffins
nor swallow us by mistake.


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-translated from the German of Christian Morgensern to English by Max Knight.