THE POEM BOOK

Danish Humour from Piet Hein

Faced with the German occupation of Denmark, Piet Hien felt that he had three choices: Do nothing, flee to "neutral" Sweden or join the Danish resistance movement. As he explained in 1968, "Sweden was out because I am not Swedish, but Danish. I could not remain at home because, if I had, every knock at the door would have sent shivers up my spine. So, I joined the Resistance." Taking as his first weapon the instrument with which he was most familiar, the pen, he wrote and had published his first "grook" (gruk in Danish). It passed the censors who did not grasp its real meaning.

CONSOLATION GROOK

Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding
the first one again.

The Germans did not understand the above, but the Danes did, and Gruk was soon found as graffiti all around Denmark. The deeper meaning of the grook was that even if you lose your freedom ("losing one glove"), do not lose your patriotism and self-respect by collaborating with the Nazis ("throwing away the other"), because that sense of having betrayed your country will be more painful when freedom has been found again someday. (wiki)

Rhyme and Reason

There was an old woman
who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children.
She didn't know what to do.
But try as she would
she could never detect
which was the cause
and which the effect.

The Egocentrics

People are self-centred
to a nauseous degree.
They will keep on about themselves
while I'm explaining me.


A Maxim for Vikings

Here is a fact
that should help you fight a bit longer:
Things that don’t actually kill you outright
make you stronger.


Those Who Know

Those who always
know what’s best
are
a universal pest.


The Road to Wisdom

The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain
And simple to express:
Err
and err
and err again,
but less
and less
and less.


Atomyriades

Nature, it seems is the popular name
for milliards and milliards and milliards
of particles playing their infinite game
of billiards and billiards and billiards.

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TPB's notes: Piet Hein (16 December 1905 – 17 April 1996) was a Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor, designer, author, and poet, often writing under the Old Norse pseudonym "Kumbel" meaning "tombstone".