Teurer Freund! Was soll es nützen

Why, my friend, this same old fretting,
In the same, monotonous fashion?
Will you be forever setting
On the addled eggs of passion?

" Ah! It's no small task to tackle!
First the chicks come, thin and sickly;
Then, when they begin to cackle,
In a book you clap them, quickly. "