“Who am I?”
I found this today while looking for poems.
It was written by one of the men who was involved with a plot to assassinate Hitler. He wrote it while he was waiting for his execution. I find it amazingly moving, and it always makes me think.
Someone mentioned it today on a CiF thread which can be found here, in which there was a discussion on courage. I think everyone should read that thread. Some of the stories there have really changed my day, and given me the most amazing sense of perspective.
The world really is a big and amazing place, and human beings are both bastards, and the most incredible creatures.
“Who am I?”
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer (March 4, 1945)
Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my cell’s confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I would talk to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I would bear the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat,
yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
trembling in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine.
It was written by one of the men who was involved with a plot to assassinate Hitler. He wrote it while he was waiting for his execution. I find it amazingly moving, and it always makes me think.
Someone mentioned it today on a CiF thread which can be found here, in which there was a discussion on courage. I think everyone should read that thread. Some of the stories there have really changed my day, and given me the most amazing sense of perspective.
The world really is a big and amazing place, and human beings are both bastards, and the most incredible creatures.
“Who am I?”
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer (March 4, 1945)
Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my cell’s confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I would talk to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I would bear the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.
Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I know of myself?
restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat,
yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
trembling in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?
Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine.