FOR ERNST THAELMANN
Comrades,
nnagme now
a falcon a fury
high
I.
a plane springing sunward
from the flexed wrist of earth
strict at the signal
Thaelmann shall not die
roaring soaring
dividing Time
not into hour and hour
not into days
but into the elate tempo of our
power
up up
through dew-light
through earth-haze
.
.
soanng roanng
Thaelmann shall not die
Speed speed ay!
pluclcs at wires
frantic frantic to wring
gigantic slogan out
the million-fingered wind !
Oh comrades sing and sing
hollow the hoarse lungs out
and strike this gong of sky
shout
Thaelmann shall n·ot die
Here's
here's cloud now
here's like cottonwaste
cloud
hasten and bend
the flight-arc upward so
sharp
climb proud
40
so so
this million unborn rain
potential snow
hurling shall hammer down
on village and on town
our cry
Rise
Proletariat Toilers
<Qf
all lands
Thaelmann shall not die
Therefore
with us who soar
who score
the sky
who helmeted ride the air
veined hands exact
- oh joystick eager there!–
declare,
with fuselage and wing
engine and singing screw
bridge space with protest
cry
you and you and you
here there and everywhere
II.
Down
in the guts of earth
down and down
beneath
clamour and glamour
beneath
their willed precarious mirth
masker of fear
beneath
valley and town
let them hear
who would murder and shelve him
away
beat
