As for the Fools

It was almost midnight
Everything was quiet, the earth was asleep
The waters of the lake rippled and sparkled in the moonlight
"I wish," said Wilfried, softly gritting his teeth
"I wish that instead of this peaceful scene we could see here
Properly and with our own eyes the
Kingdoms of the earth in all their glory"
But let's look at them in our mind's eye
Let's think of those swarming masses
Whether smartly dressed in all their finery, or in rags
Exclude nobody
Do you recognize their complete barbarity?
Not the brave, bold, picturesque, happy barbarity of the young
But a sinister, sullen, churlish
Ugly savagery which will kill everything and create nothing
You will at least be amazed by their
Mass - for their mass is indeed enormous!
Look with wonder at its neat arrangement into three parts:
At their head, the motley tribe of fools
They lead in everything, carrying the keys, opening the doors

Inventing phrases
Wailing when they are wrong and assuring you that they
Would never have believed that this or that could happen
Next, look at the scoundrels:
They are everywhere - at the sides, at the front, and at the back
They run about, agitatedly working themselves up and their sole
Purpose is to stop anything from being
Settled, until they have settled themselves
But what's the point of their being settled?
Hardly has one of their gang declared that it has had its
Fill, then famished swarms of others rush up to take over
And now look at the brutes
The fools have unleashed them
And the scoundrels are herding them in countless flocks
You might well ask what I make of such pandemonium
I can make of it only what it is: Stupidity, destruction, and death!
I can indeed perceive merely a world of insects
Differing in size and species, armed with saws, pincers, drills
And other tools for ruin, intent on bringing down morals
Rights, laws, and customs, all that I have loved and respected
A world which burns cities, razes monuments, and now spurns books
Music, pictures
Substituting for all of them
Potatoes, underdone beef, and rotten wine
Would you want to spare such a rabble
If there was at hand a sure way of destroying them?
That's for you to decide
As far as I'm concerned:
Lend me for one moment the Thunderbolts of Jupiter
And I will destroy however much is necessary of this irresponsible
Mass of brutes - they're totally incapable of discrimination
I don't see that they have any soul
Other than is scarcely their fault
Nor should we show any excess of severity towards the scoundrels
I can hardly tell you that they are the
Salt of the earth, but they are its brine
We can, at a pinch, turn them into something
And so long as we hang a few of them from time to time
The rest can be employed, if not honestly, then at least usefully
Moreover, we have to admit that our planet
Produces them naturally and without excessive effort
In spite of itself
The world could never either get ride
Of them or even perhaps do without them
As for the fools, I would be pitiless!
They are the vain and bloody offers
The sole and detestable agents of universal decay and my
Thunderbolts would rain down mercilessly upon their perverted brains
No, such a gang do not deserve to live
Indeed an ordered world cannot survive
So long as such croaking vermin exist
The eras of splendor and creativity were those when
Such reptiles did not crawl upon the steps of power."