I’m on the job and with a knife, And don’t thou touch me at this time! Then I as ever go to a mess. It makes no difference what they say, All what I’ve gained I drink away, And I’ll forever walk this way, my friends. A man comes up to me and says, “Our life’s too arduous nowadays - The scums like thee must spend their time in cells.” I never talk with such odd birds, And did him in without words, And I’ll forever do the same, my friends. If thou’rt just curious what I think - Thou’rt welcome, friend, let’s have a drink, And any problem we’ll take up and fix. But if thou’rt on that odd bird’s path - The law applies to all of us, And it’ll forever stay just as it is.
© Akbar Muhammad. Translation, 2009
(akbarmuhammad.awardspace.co.uk)
[Partly adapted from Andrey Kneller’s “I’m working, with my knife in hand...”]