Broken sonnets – 1

Franz Jäegerstätter

Franz Jaegerstatter was an Austrian farmer who refused to fight for Nazi Germany. He was tried and guillotined in 1943.

One Summer Morn

Coming from the fields, farmer Franz, farmer Franz,

Coming from the fields one Summer morn

You dance with Theresia making

A child as you were made –

            One Summer long ago, among the corn.

Loving is for me, not killing, you decide.

In loving, something good is born,

            One Summer long ago, among the corn.

They took your neck and pinned it down

Ready to sever bone from bone

A cut that sliced you like the scythe that cut the corn

Out in the fields where once was born

Your joy – Oh farmer Franz –

One Summer morn.