You might call it children's revenge against the deep seriousness of existence; you will come to know life better when you learn to understand us. Christian Morgenstern's "Galgenlieder" (Gallows Songs) are among the most astonishing texts in German poetry. They joyfully embrace a worldly existence far removed from the bourgeois moral and life code: a knee, a moon sheep, a sigh, a turtle, and many other endearing and curious representatives of the concrete populate the universe of Morgenstern's "gallows poetics," exploring the possibilities of poetic expression in a playful childlike language. Despite their apparent simplicity, the tone of the songs takes on existential qualities, becoming a playful yet serious address against life itself and its inherent transience and weight.