The sun is setting in the Bavarian woods.
Our Capo wipes his crumpled brow.
Our camp is building a munitions plant.
We prisoners are permitted to rest now.
Returning to camp in a gray prison carriage
We dream of escaping these terrible places.
We live in gray huts, eat gray bread and soup,
The rags we wear are a gray as our faces.
My comrade points to the tall, black trees
Where the setting sun is shining through.
We behold the mountains of Salzburg.
A little barred window provides us the view.
We are captivated by Nature's magnificence.
We've missed her fresh beauty for so long.
This night her skies are so alive with color,
My companions slid from silence to song.
Clouds shape changed from sapphire to ruby,
Offering a sharp contrast to our gray reality.
I broke one of our moments of moving silence
And whispered "How beautiful this world could be."
