the tramp and the thief was not true love
the tramp and the thief was but a liaison paid
a thief stole money but not a tramp's heart
the tramp was a love deep paid for a body laid
eventually sadly the thief was caught hung high
but the tramp never shed a tear never even cried
for her love was red wine which was the reason
why she laughed drunk all spent red wine time
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
To love red wine more than a person is not consistent or logical. I used to like drinking wine. Not any more.
This poem is based on the poem 'Ein Weib' by the poet Heinrich Heine and I believe that was the moral behind the tale, extreme social dependence upon alcohol and the character flaws alcoholism produces. I wanted to do a few tribute poems to Heinrich Heine because he was a prolific writer and a Jew who predicted what would happen to Germany a hundred years before Hitler arrived; his predictions included burning books then burning people which came to pass. Hitler hated Heine and had his books burned, so I wanted to restore a little balance by writing Heine back into some contemporary poetry with a few tribute poems to him. I think I have written a for the first 15 of his poems on PH, plus a few others. A symbolic tribute.