Sol 5.6

  1. She said to me, “Gently—do not make me

    bear whatever may weigh heavily upon me.

  2. At such a time, do you demand si—

    —lence of me? Were I silent, I would die of anguish.

  3. You urge me toward it, though you, better than I,

    know its impossibility and discern it more clearly.

  4. Had you, as I have, thought about it even a little,

    you would never have turned a thought toward it.

  5. Whoever today is able to speak,

    yet keeps silent, is despised and scorned.

  6. Shall I be silent while lifeless matter clamors around me

    and roars, seeking an outlet for speech?

  7. And you—yes, you, made of flesh and blood—

    do you persist in your silence?

  8. Have you not seen the horror of this war veil

    its countenance, until it darkened and glowered?

  9. It assailed even its lifeless matter, and terror seized it;

    because of that, it thundered and shuddered.

  10. Have you not heard the people’s talk about it,

    repeated once and then recounted yet again?

  11. Its echo reverberates in every gathering,

    and every mouth is enamored of it, enthralled.

  12. If anything is offered for sale, nothing but it is bought;

    if anything is written, nothing but it is read.

  13. The telegraph wire quivers only

    with it, then scatters it far and wide across the earth.

  14. And if all this is not enough

    to lift the fetter from you, then you are not free.

  15. Otherwise, polish your mind till it clears, and sharpen

    your reed pen, that it may surge forth—a charging blade.

  16. With it inscribe upon the page a poem

    borne like a bride to readers’ minds as magic.

Sol 5.6