Otakar Theer

“ In my every vein shall quiver.
As brothers we sink to watery depths
From heaven at our sorrow's lashing.
Destroying and rending, leap by leap,
Brothers akin we are crashing,—
And we know not whither and why. ”

“ Thou hast shown us thine unmatched countenance, us uptempted
Hast thou taken unto thine embraces and lulled with a smile.
What thou didst murmur to us on sluggish afternoons, was:
Mighty deceit, that slumbered in thine unbounded gaze.
Then while the countryside awoke to glittering mornings,
Then while peasants sowed grain into the dusky soil,
Then while through firmaments surged a deluge of mighty love,
Thou didst take from us all, that was ours to take,
Our simple hearts, full of dreams and beauty,
Our strength, our freedom, our faith, peaceful and assuaging. ”