I'm Not Saying Anything Against Alexander

Timur, I hear, took the trouble to conquer the Earth.
I don't understand him.
With a bit of hard liquor you can forget the Earth.

I'm not saying anything against Alexander,
Only I have seen people who were remarkable.
Highly deserving of your admiration
For the fact that they were alive at all.

Great men generate too much sweat
In all of this I see just a proof that
They couldn't stand being on their own
The smoking and the drinking and the like.
And they must be too mean-spirited
to get contentment from sitting with a woman.

Bertolt Brecht
http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/bertolt_brecht_2012_3.pdf

http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/ppandp/PDFs/Brecht-a%20brief%20overview.pdf