Thoughts on war: “Botschaft” [“Message“] by Walther Freist (Published on 27/06/2025)
The forester Walther Freist (*27/08/1901, +10/08/1963), who took over the Brunswick forestry office Walkenried in the southern Harz Mountains in 1931, wrote several poems during his time as a prisoner of war, which his widow Elisabeth self-published in a booklet in 1978. One of the themes of these poems, which are well worth reading, is the forest, its significance for people’s lives and the concern about the effects of their lack of appreciation for it.
In the booklet “Gedichte geschrieben in Gefangenschaft” [“Poems written in captivity”] (1978), p. 37 f., his following poem, written in March 1947, is reproduced (translation from German language, without implementing the rhyme scheme):
“Message
Have you seen the little bird,
the adorable little bird?
Oh no! Your astonished face tells me,
you didn’t see the adorable little bird.
You only see the barbed wire fence,
which has taken away your freedom,
you only see your own torment.
Look, on the wired post
the lovely little bird sits twittering.
Did you hear the little song,
which the little bird sang?
Oh no! Your astonished face tells me that you didn’t
hear the little pearly song.
You only hear your own moaning,
your whining and fruitless demanding.
You only hear what you like.
Is there only in the wide world
selfishness and hatred and slander ?
If I only saw human work,
only heard human voices,
despair would be all I would have left!
Thank you! A thousand thanks to you, nature,
You open my eyes and ears!
I can never go blind,
I can never feel the beauty of the earth.
And never will I ever become deaf,
you pull me up from the dust
into heavenly, purer spheres.
You came to me from freedom,
you little bird, buzzing in flight,
and sang a little song from the forest.
Tell him I would come soon,
in him I would like to recover.”
These thoughts by Walther Freist on man’s relationship to the forest may be read with a view to the battered Hürtgen Forest, which was ravaged beyond recognition by the heavy fighting in autumn and winter of 1944/45, but they also have an almost universal meaning beyond that.
(Head picture: Birds on memorial stones
of the German military cemetery Vossenack, August 2022)
If you wish to support my work, you can do so here. Many thanks!