September 1st 1939:
This rose for all the world for you
These tears for all the dead,
Those empty words of morningtide
This ever-present dread.
Those cloying smells of perfume
On the dresses of the rich,
This workman stumbling homeward
His body in a ditch.
September’s moon still shining
On this old planet’s doom,
Her wind and tide conspiring;
A chill invades the room.
Sophie Magdalena Scholl iwas a key member of the Weiße Rose (White Rose)—a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich calling for resistance to the Nazi state and the war. On February 22, 1943, she was beheaded for treason at just 21 years old.
John Marks
Thu 5th Mar 2026 18:06
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
― Sophie Magdalena Scholl