Die Würde des Schweins ist unantastbar! [English translation]

It was in a narrow stall,

On concrete floor, not befitting her status,

That she first saw the light-bulb of day.

She was the piglet number four,

Three others lying on top of her.

A hustle that nearly choked her!

After only two weeks of breastfeeding taskwork

Someone came and took mother away,

But even after the memory had faded,

Sometimes the young swine was reminded

of her mother's words:

"A swine's dignity shall be inviolable!"

The prison soon became her home.

Just in one spot day in, day out.

And always stuck in one's own crap.

The good sense of smell, the stench!

She grew weary, she grew sick,

And when she grew quite ill she got injections.

She was commanded to mate, --

She never accepted that,

That being a pig only consisted of breeding and fattening.

And when somebody broke her will,

She'd remember what her mother said:

"A swine's dignity shall be inviolable!"

Then the cattle lorry drove up,

She was seized at tail and ears

Together with her fellow sufferers.

They shook and squeaked so fearfully

And drove and stood for hours on end

Cooped up even closer now than usual.

A swine is wise and thus forebodes

The tragic situation.

She knew that this was going to be her last stop.

She recognised the butchery at once,

And she went without resistance.

A swine's dignity shall be inviolable!

She never got to see the sky,

Was never allowed to walk in the field,

Never sat down in dry and fresh straw.

She never wallowed in the mud,

Happily coupled and weltered in a hollow --

How could I eat this picture of misery?

Holding the menu in my hands,

I think the pig outside the box²

And will probably never be able to forget these images.

I don't want, you poor bugger³,

Be complicit in your suffering

Just because I visited this restaurant.

And I will order from now on

The cauliflower au gratin.

A swine's dignity shall be inviolable!

• Artist:Reinhard Mey
• Album:Alles geht! (1992)