'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

Even in the eyes of all posterity 

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 55

Dear audience, we are now coming to

The point where we must hang him by the neck

Because it is the Christian thing to do

Proving that men must pay for what they take.

---

But as we want to keep our fingers clean

And you are people we can’t risk offending

We thought we’d better do without this scene

And substitute instead a different ending.

---

Since this is opera, not life, you’ll see

Justice give way before Humanity.

So now, to throw our story right off course

Enter the royal official on his horse.

Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht