It is nonsense says Reason
It is what it is says Love

It is misfortune says Calculation it is nothing but pain says Fear It is hopeless says Insight It is what it is says Love

It is ridiculous says Pride It is frivolous says Prudence It is impossible says Experience It is what it is says Love It is madness says reason It is what it is says love

It is unhappiness says caution It is nothing but pain says fear It has no future says insight It is what it is says love

It is ridiculous says pride It is foolish says caution It is impossible says experience It is what it is says love.

Erich Fried (6 May 1921 – 22 November 1988) was an Austrian poet who settled in England, known for his political-minded poetry. He was also a broadcaster, translator and essayist.
Born to Jewish parents Nelly and Hugo Fried in Vienna, he was a child actor and from an early age wrote strongly political essays and poetry. He fled with his mother to London after his father was murdered by the Gestapo after the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. During the war, he did casual work as a librarian and a factory hand. He joined Young Austria, a left-wing emigrant youth movement, but left in 1943 in protest at its dogmatism. In 1944 he married Maria Marburg, shortly before the birth of his son Hans. In the same year his first volume of poetry was published. He separated from Maria in 1946, and they divorced in 1952. In the same year he married Nan Spence Eichner, with whom he had two children; David (1958) and Katherine (1961). Erich and Nan divorced in 1965. In 1965 he got married for a third time to Catherine Boswell with whom he had three children; Petra (1965), Klaus and Tom (1969).
From 1952 to 1968 he worked as a political commentator for the BBC German Service. He translated works by Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas. In 1962 he returned to Vienna for the first time.