The Völklingen Ironworks (in German: Völklinger Hütte) is a steel complex located in the German town of Völklingen in Saarland. The construction of the factory began in 1873 and the center quickly became a unique industrial complex in Europe, ensuring all stages of iron and steel production. In 1994 it was added to the World Heritage List, making the factory the first industrial monument to appear on the list. Since 2011, the URBAN ART dedicated to urban art has been organized there.
Human effort
isn't that handsome smiling young man
standing on his leg in plaster
or stone
and giving thanks to the puerile artifices of statuary
the stupid illusion
the joy of dancing and jubilation
evoking with the other leg in the air
the sweetness of coming home
No
human effort does not carry a small child on the right shoulder
another on the head
and a third on the left shoulder
with the tools slung
and the happy young woman clinging to his arm
Human effort wears a truss
and the scars of battle
delivered by the working class
against an absurd and lawless world
Human effort has no real home
he smells the smell of his work
and he is hit in the lungs
his salary is meager
his children too
he works like a nigger
and the nigger works like him
Human effort has no manners
human effort has not reached the age of reason
human effort in the age of barracks
the age of convicts and prisons
the age of churches and factories
the age of cannons
and he who planted all the vines everywhere
and tuned all the violins
he feeds on bad dreams
and he gets drunk with the bad wine of resignation
and like a big drunken squirrel
it keeps spinning around
in a hostile universe
dusty and low ceiling and he constantly forges the chain
the terrifying chain where everything is linked
misery profit work killing
sadness unhappiness insomnia and boredom
the terrifying golden
chain coal iron and steel
clinker and dust
passed around the neck
of a distraught world
the miserable chain
where do they cling
divine charms
the sacred relics
crosses of honor swastikas
lucky marmosets
the medals of the old servants
trinkets of misfortune
and the large museum piece
the great equestrian portrait
the large full-length portrait
the large front portrait in profile on one hop
the great golden portrait
the great portrait of
the great diviner
the great portrait of the great emperor
the great portrait of the great thinker
of the great jumper
of the great moralizer
worthy and sad joker
the head of the big pain in the ass
the head of the aggressive peacemaker
the police head of the great liberator
Adolf Hitler's head
the head of Monsieur Thiers
dictator's head
gunner's head
from any country
any color
the hateful head
the unhappy head
head slapping
head to slaughter
head of fear
excerpt from Jacques Prévert,Paroles , Paris, Gallimard, 1946.