And Yet We Are Here!

by Karl Wolfskehl

Always driven, always in the bite of
the blast --
Was the burden of life ever bitterer
on earth?
Has harsher yoke pressed on calloused
shoulders,
The plough of dark Destiny cut deeper
furrows?
Were death and dread ever quite so
near?
And yet we are here!

And yet we lifted our foreheads over
and over,
And yet our songs of thanks, our
prayers and paeans mounted,
When air and light stole through a rift
of the mouldy dungeon,
They found us bowed on the book, at
God's work, the workers!
Our hearts did not break though our
lot was austere,
And yet we are here!

Terrible Fate, you bring weeping and
the lust to kill,
All day you crouch in corners, threaten
and leer,
All night you gnash your teeth and
lurk by our pallet.
When we sobbed, swore, implored, it
was you who spoke.
Only Hatred replied with savage jeer
And yet we are here!

Yes, yet we are here, and must remain,
Sucking at pain as at honeycombs.
The others go -- are allowed to! Our
hour
Once shall bloom from a fertile wound.
Then we shall know why He suffered
our tears.
Then, when the trumpet's holy Yes
rings clear,
We shall be here!