I think a skull is visible at the bow,
a passenger with respect.
But the ship has expensive cargo, too,
and that aroused my desire to shop.
Cholera will never bother me,
whenever it comes to a good deal,
and therefore the ship may pass freely,
even if it carries the infection inside.
You should earn interest on your coin, I mean,
but not salted away in quarantine.
Yes, so long as I earn money,
I’ll steer it to the hometown of cholera.
I do not regret my illness,
no, in my slaked lime I feel so good.
Here we have healthy and sound stomachs,
and gold is everything for a shopkeeper’s soul.
(Fäderneslandet, Stockholm, 1883)
Sic Transit Pestilentia 