Little by Little

The winds caress the mountain top
And every day it rains
And slowly, imperceptibly,
Each day a thousand grains
Are taken from that solid rock —
Clandestine souvenirs —
And slow, so no one notices,
The mountain disappears.
It’s gone before the world awakes
And little by little is all it takes.
The frog can be forgiven if
A little ill at ease,
For certainly his trust has been
Eroded by degrees.
It may be disagreeable —
Indeed, we may recoil —
How easily that little frog
Is brought up to the boil.
He never realised the stakes,
And little by little is all it takes.
They say that Adolph Hitler once
Was heard to volunteer,
«No man ever notices
His freedoms disappear,
Not if they are taken
In a thousand tiny shards.
We counter his anxieties;
The rest, he disregards,
But then he can’t apply the brakes.
And little by little is all it takes!»
I’m joyful, fifty times a day
To star on their TV
And reassured my mobile phone
Is keeping track of me;
And by the great benevolence
Of those whom we anoint.
Still, Hitler and the frog have
Made a very valid point.
So stay alert, for heaven’s sakes,
For little by little is all it takes…
So stay alert, for heaven’s sakes,
For little by little is all it takes.