Times have changed,
How different it is now.
Once they tried to entice us
To keep buying more and more.
Whether child, gentleman, or lady,
Wears out, consumes, empties,
That’s how they used to advertise,
But now it is stopped.
Now they write on the windows
The strictest economy,
They repeatedly remind us,
How serious the times are.
When we read slogans
From before the war time,
It proves
Where fascism leads.
Once people called: Get strong,
And eat more meat for that.
Bitter are my thoughts
When I read that today.
Eating fish is healthy,
So eat more fish!
Today it is forgotten,
Because things are not looking good for fish.
They wanted to increase
High fruit consumption,
Those times have passed,
How great it was back then.
Eat grapes, eat bananas,
Tomatoes, whatever you like,
And on the bowling alleys,
People read: Drink more beer.
And every day a small glass,
They called out with joy.
Since the Krauts became our masters,
People can’t drink, to their regret.
Back then, the house of Oranje ruled,
And not Seyss-Inquart,
Back then they campaigned:
Dear people, cook with gas.
If now one exceeds
The low gas ration,
They will cut you off,
And besides, it costs money.
They also asked us:
Eat more pastries, more bread,
Consume more pancakes,
And now famine reigns.
They have given us
A word, drained dry,
The slogan of the new life:
Save what you have!
But when the Krauts are defeated,
Then things will be good again,
Then we will pamper our tongues and stomachs
With new abundance.
Post-Editing: Robert Saunders, Hanny Veenendaal
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