Rhymed Observations

Listen to the poem in English

Read by Greg Nedved

Samuel Hoffenstein — Original Text

The rights of each are the only rights of all.
Eve grinned before the fall.
The malevolent tyrant destroys; the benevolent tyrant humiliates.
Man proposes; woman affiliates.
Wherever the worm turns, he is still a worm.
Power never serves too brief a term.
Where there are willing masters there are willing slaves.
Where there are mass men there are mass graves.
Only the obligations of the strong assure the rights of the weak.
Envy is the mistress of the meek.
Marriages made in Heaven are not exported.
A fool and his money are soon courted.
When the ox has wings, the eagle will draw the cart.
The taste of another’s luck is always tart.
Who shouts of his labor covets another’s yield.
What God confided to the clergy has never been revealed.
A wrong to one outlaws the State.
Free to worship still means free to hate.
Where the mighty swarm, God is hidden.
Joy is the most forbidden.Real wealth is the soul in repose.
Thorns do not impede the rose.
Where one is nothing, all are nothing.
Beware of a dog and a saviour frothing.
“No” is a giant’s word.
Parents should be seen, but children heard.
The body cannot give itself pleasure.
Work is the fig-leaf of leisure.
Who governs himself cheats the State.
Faith condones, Courage despises, Fate.
The wages of sin are high.
The half-truth is the cancer of the lie.
Every man’s poverty adds to the demagogue’s wealth.
Few reach high office save by stealth.
The lying servant becomes the brutal master.
Only One God is not made of plaster.
No taxation without misrepresentation.
Geography never made a nation.
Who robs Peter will never pay Paul.
The thirst of the great is the drink of the small.
The wealth of the world will be redistributed with its brains.
To starve more slowly, starve on another’s gains.
No man should be called common except by his cook.
We need more cooks.
No man is fit, by law or wit, or custom, suffrage or intent, or hazard, need or accident, to rule another than himself, save from the gallows or the shelf.
Wisdom bears buds, Virtue, blossoms, Force, fruit. 
On the hog mind, assurance is the snoot.
To a woman, experience means love; to a man, traffic tickets.
Simple Saint Peter stays outside the wickets, know, as he does, by his own belief, the stinkweed has become immortal leaf, and the starved mind and heart eternal rickets.
So long – and yet, so short for this life’s grievance and the snort.

Notes

Who robs Peter will never pay Paul: refers to an old saying, “Robbing Peter to pay Paul,” i.e., to go into debt a second time to pay a first debt; to use money other than one’s own to pay a debt.

Author Notes

Samuel Hoffenstein (Oct. 8, 1890 – Oct. 6, 1947) was born in Lithuania; his family emigrated to the US in 1894. He graduated from Lafayette College, PA, then worked as a reporter for a local paper. By 1913, he had become the drama critic for the New York Sun. He also wrote articles for the magazine Vanity Fair and the New York Tribune newspaper. He married Edith Morgan in 1927. His first book of poetry, Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing, came out in 1928. In 1931, Hoffenstein settled in Los Angeles, working as a screenwriter for Paramount Studios until 1936, then for 20th Century Fox from 1941-1947. During that time, he was employed as a scriptwriter for over 30 movies. He was twice a co-nominee for an Oscar: for “Best Adaptation” for the 1931 film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and for “Best Screenplay” for the 1944 film Laura. Hoffenstein’s revision of the screenplay for Laura – in which he turned the novel’s narrator, Waldo Lydecker, into the screen character portrayed by Clifton Webb – caused 20th Century Fox to upgrade the movie from its original B status to an A picture. Other notable film credits for Hoffenstein include The Miracle Man (1932), Phantom of the Opera (1943), The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Tales of Manhattan (1942). He also collaborated with Cole Porter and Kenneth Webb in composing the musical score for The Gay Divorce (1933), which in 1934 was turned into the film The Gay Divorcee, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Hoffenstein died in Los Angeles. His second book of verse, Pencil in the Air, was published to critical acclaim three days after his death.

Sources

Hoffenstein, Samuel. Pencil in the Air. Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1947.
“Samuel Hoffenstein.” Wikipedia, 14 Sept. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Hoffenstein&oldid=1044269250.

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Fanni is Radnóti's wife
Located near the Tang capital city of Chang’an, site of the modern city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province, in central China.
Soldiers of that time commonly wore a white head cloth, similar to what is still worn by some peasants in China today.  The implication is that the conscripts were so young that they didn’t know how to wrap their head cloths, and needed help from elders.
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
The area of Guanxi, meaning “west of the passes”, refers to the area around the capital city of Chang’an.
This is an alternative name for a province in western China, now known as Qinghai, which literally means “blue sea”.  Kokonor Lake, located in Qinghai, is the largest saline lake in China.  
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
Oulart Hollow was the site of a famous victory of the Irish rebels over British troops, which took place on May 27, 1798. The rebels killed nearly all the British attackers in this battle. (Source: Maxwell, W. H. History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798. H. H. Bohn, London 1854, pp 92-93, at archive.org)
The phrase "United Men" is elaborated upon in the Notes section below.

Ghetto


An Italian word meaning “foundry.” It originally referred to a part of the city of Venice where the Jews of that city were forced to live; the area was called “the ghetto” because there was a foundry nearby. The term eventually came to refer to any part of a city in which a minority group is forced to live as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. Because of the restrictions placed upon them, ghetto residents are often impoverished.

"You’re five nine, I am do-uble two"


A reference to the year 1959 and the year 2020.

"The Currency"


Meaning US dollars - this is drawing attention to the fact that Cuba is effectively dollarized.

"Sixty years with the dom-ino stuck"


This sentence is a reference to the Cold War notion that countries would turn Communist one after the other - like dominos. Cuba was the first domino, but it got stuck - no one else followed through into communism.

رحلنا


رحلنا, or "rahalna," means "we have left."

Habibi


Habibi means "my love."

Ra7eel


Ra7eel, or "raheel," means "departure."

3awda


3awda, or "awda," means "returning."

أهلاً


أهلاً, or "ahalan," means "welcome."

a5 ya baba


a5 ya baba, pronounced "akh ya baba," means "Oh my father."