Contemplating Hell, as I once heard it,

My bother Shelley found it to be a place

Much like the city of London. I,

Who do not live in London, but in Los Angeles,

Find, contemplating, Hell, that it

Must be even more like Los Angeles.

On my wall hangs a Japanese carving,

The mask of an evil demon, decorated with gold lacquer.

Sympathetically I observe

The swollen veins of the forehead, indicating

What a strain it is to be evil.

                                    - Berholt Brecht (1898-1956) German