Scvhadenfreude
Schadenfreude (Misfortune Joy)
We English-speaking folk don’t have a word
To match the German “Schadenfreude,” which
Denotes your pleasant feeling having heard
Your hated boss has fallen in a ditch.
We need that term, for now we have no means
To note our thrill when pushy Jezebels
Like Martha Stewart must eat jailhouse beans,
Or Swaggart’s caught with whores in foul motels.
And surely most of us must salivate
To think that Kenneth Lay was almost jailed,
That heat on Scooter Libby won’t abate,
That Tom Delay the Hammer was finally nailed.*
You won’t admit it’s true, yet it’s inferred:
You’ve felt the joy implicit in that word.
*I admit that’s not original anymore.
(1997)
#Definition