English translation of Eugen Roth's "Falscher Verdacht"


                                       



Eugen Roth (1895-1976) is the proof that German poets can be very sharp and witty. Unfortunately almost none of his ironical poems has been translated into English. I cannot even find a good English webpage for Eugen Roth. Here is my attempt to translate his famous "Falscher Verdacht." I have tried to maintain the prosody, the rhymes, the incredible humor:


                               Wrong Suspicion

                    A man has tendencies to strongly
                    Suspect the others right or wrongly.
                    He thinks his briefcase is misplaced.
                    His search is headless, he is crazed,
                    And swears it must have been a thief,
                    And the police might bring relief.
                    And now he knows it is for sure,
                    The world is rotten…, nothing pure.
                    It was that man, for certain, who intended,
                    Who, while his reading was pretended —
                    We could have known it from his eyes...
                    The briefcase? Goodness, there it lies!
                    The effort was in truth quite vain,
                    And honest seems the world again.
                    Behold that jerk who almost thieved:
                    He’ll never be again believed.
                    Since if the briefcase, let us say,
                    Had disappeared and got away —
                    And here one risks just any bet —,
                    He stolen could be would have had.

                                                                       (translated by Rolf-Peter Wille)



The horrible grammar in the last line is intended (to parody the monstrously complex suspicion). Here is the German original:


            Falscher Verdacht
Ein Mensch hat meist den übermächtigen
Naturdrang, andre zu verdächtigen.
Die Aktenmappe ist verlegt.
Er sucht sie, kopflos und erregt,
und schwört bereits, sie sei gestohlen,
und will die Polizei schon holen
und weiß von nun an überhaupt,
daß alle Welt nur stiehlt und raubt.
Und sicher ist's der Herr gewesen,
der, während scheinbar er gelesen -
er ahnt genau, wie es geschah...
Die Mappe? Ei, da liegt sie ja!
Der ganze Aufwand war entbehrlich
und alle Welt wird wieder ehrlich.
Doch den vermeintlich frechen Dieb
gewinnt der Mensch nie mehr ganz lieb,
weil der die Mappe, angenommen,
sie wäre wirklich weggekommen -
und darauf wagt er jede Wette -
gestohlen würde haben hätte!



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