A match | There was once a safety match

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by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934)

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

War einmal ein Schwefelholz

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

War einmal ein Schwefelholz,
Das sich mit erhab'nem Stolz
Einen Anarchisten nannte
Und ein ganzes Haus verbrannte.
Dieses war schon ungewöhnlich,
Doch es kannte auch persönlich
Meyers Taschenlexika,
Ganz speziell das Bändchen "A",
Weshalb es sich nach dem Brande
An besagtes Bändchen wandte
Mit den Worten: "Sag, was ist
Eigentlich ein Anarchist?"

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), "War einmal ein Schwefelholz", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Ein Schwefelholz", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Ringelnatz in dreiviertel Takt, no. 13 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "A match", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 52

A match

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

There was once a safety match,
Filled with a sense of pride,
Chosen by anarchists to arson-dispatch
A house and the contents inside.
This seemed odd and thereupon
It went out straightaway
To Meyers pocket lexicon,
Specifically the first volume, "A,"
Which is why after the blaze
It turned to that alphabetical list
To answer this questioning phrase,
"What exactly is an anarchist?"

Text Authorship:

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "A match", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in German (Deutsch) by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), "War einmal ein Schwefelholz", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-02
Line count: 12
Word count: 63