A Great Bird
(Translated from German by Anne Ranasinghe and published to mark the 75th Anniversary today of the ‘Night of Broken Glass’- November 10, 1938)
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The Night of Broken Glass: Germany 1938
The Nightingale, ensnared in a net,
Never sang behind the bars of her cage.
One threatened, and tickled and tried to entice.
Gall did not sing. Until one locked
the stubborn one, without a light,
In the deepest cellar where none could hear.
there
Quite alone, and without fear
Of a false echo
She still did not sing
But died, so small
As Nightingall.
- Joachim Ringelnatz
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