Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.

Schulter an Schulter

Untrennbar vereint

in Freud und in Leid!'



Shoulder to shoulder

Inseparably united

in joy and in sorrow!

Other views: Larger, Back

Friday, July 9, 1915

"Our Church Spires

   To Maurice Barrès

Sharp bell-spires, you alone have power to give

Its intonation to our countryside

   Attuned to life.

Through gradual centuries by hedge and grove,

Blue sky and river and the careful pride

   Of human love.

If you were once destroyed — the flame gone cold! —

Then it would be for forest, ford, and field

   Death of the soul.

Jean-Marc Bernard, translated by Graham Dunstan Martin"

Quotation Context

'Our Church Spires' by French writer Jean-Marc Bernard. He was killed by a shell on July 9, 1915 while carrying rations to the front line at Souchez.

Source

The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 245, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989

Tags

1915-07-09, 1915, July, Jean-Marc Bernard, Bernard, Our Church Spires, poem