He was arrested by the Gestapo in April of 1943 — initially charged with conspiring to rescue Jews. The following poem was written in December of 1944, and sent in a letter to his fiancée, Maria von Wedemeyer, as part of a Christmas greeting, from his cell in the basement of the Gestapo prison in Berlin. After that building was destroyed in an air raid he was transferred elsewhere, and eventually to Flossenbürg concentration camp. It was there that he was executed on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before it was liberated by the Allies.
The poem was first published posthumously, by being added to later editions of Bonhoeffer’s 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship. The poem’s translator is Geoffrey Winthrop Young.
New Year 1945
With every power for good to stay and guide me,
comforted and inspired beyond all fear,
I’ll live these days with you in thought beside me,
and pass, with you, into the coming year.
The old year still torments our hearts, unhastening:
the long days of our sorrow still endure.
Father, grant to the soul thou hast been chastening
that thou hast promised—the healing and the cure.
Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,
we will not falter, thankfully receiving
all that is given by thy loving hand.
But, should it be thy will once more to release us
to life’s enjoyment and its good sunshine,
that we’ve learned from sorrow shall increase us
and all our life be dedicate as thine.
Today, let candles shed their radiant greeting:
lo, on our darkness are they not thy light,
leading us haply to our longed-for meeting?
Thou canst illumine e’en our darkest night.
When now the silence deepens for our harkening,
grant we may hear thy children’s voices raise
from all the unseen world around us darkening,
their universal paean, in thy praise.
While all the powers of Good aid and attend us,
boldly we’ll face the future, be it what may.
At even, and at morn, God will befriend us,
and oh, most surely each new year’s day!
*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Dietrich Bonhoeffer: first post.
Entry written by D.S. Martin. He is the author of five poetry collections including Angelicus (2021, Cascade) ― a book of poems written from the point-of-view of angels. His books are available through Wipf & Stock.
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