Opposites and Pleasures －反対と快感－

I recently read a poem by Bertolt Brecht called (Pleasures), which he wrote in the 1950s.  It is basically a list of things he liked, seemingly put together in a random order.  How many of his pleasures would you include in your own list?  Here is a translation of his poem:

First look from morning’s window,

The rediscovered book,
Fascinated faces,
Snow, the change of the seasons,
The newspaper,
The dog,
Dialectics,
Showering, swimming,
Old music,
Comfortable shoes,
Comprehension,
New music,
Writing, planting,
Travelling,
Singing,
Being friendly.

*

Brecht’s list is mostly simple and hard to disagree with.  I also like comfortable shoes and being friendly.

The one odd choice is dialectics.  The word can be used to mean different things but for Karl Marx  it meant seeing everything as having an opposite.  Any change to one thing also changed its opposite.  Brecht was a Marxist and claimed to be very influenced by dialectics.

I would suggest to Brecht that he should take out dialectics and replace it in his list with chocolate covered almonds.  Dialectics is very confusing if you are not a Marxist, whereas chocolate covered almonds can be enjoyed by almost everyone.  Also, take out “the dog”, and put in, “the cat”.  Now the list is perfect.

Vocabulary:

random – without a planned order

rediscovered – lost and then found again

fascinated – extremely interested

comprehension - understanding

planting – the putting of flowers, seeds, etc. into the ground