Beside the Glacier

From Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Translation by Ralph Manheim and R. Berlau

Since no one wants to take you, child,
I shall have to take you.
Black the day as black can be;
I will not forsake you.
If you're satisfied with me
I will not forsake you.

I have carried you so far
and my feet are sore and bleeding.
I have spent such fortunes buying milk;
I will not forsake you.
Fondness comes from feeding:
I will not forsake you.

I will not forsake you.
I will not forsake you.

I will throw your linen out
and swaddle you in tatters.
I will wash and baptize you
in water from a glacier.
You'll just have to stand it;
I will not forsake you.
I will not forsake you.