It is worthwhile to live
and fight courageously
for sacred ideals.
O blow ye evil winds
into my body's fire
my soul you'll never unravel.
Even though disappointed a thousand times
or fallen in the fight
and everything would worthless seem,
I have lived amidst eternity --
Be grateful, my soul --
My life was worth living.
He who was pressed from all sides
but remained victorious in spirit
is welcomed into the choir of heroes.
He who overcame the fetters
giving wings to his mind
is entering into the golden age of
the victorious.
composed in Dresden Prison in 1941, shortly before he was transferred to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in October, 1942
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