Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

A Warning
(Translated by Louis Untermeyer)

Heine, Heinrich

Heinrich Heine

(German poet and essayist, one of the most musical and most unhappy of singers; 1797–1856)

YOU will print such books as these!

Then you’re lost, my friend, that’s certain.

If you wish for gold and honor,

Write more humbly—bend your knees!

Aye, you must have lost your senses

Thus to speak before the people;

Thus to dare to speak of Preachers

And of Potentates and Princes.

Friend, you’re lost—so it appears—

For the Princes have long arms,

And the Preachers have long tongues,

—And the masses have long ears!