A LONDON INTERLUDE 95the writer's reflections while in jail, were simple lyrics that con
ceivably might have been written at any time and under very dif
ferent circumstances. "The Little Bird," "The Sun," "The
Moon," and "The Birthday" fall into this group. Another poem
was an allegory, based upon the relative advantages enjoyed by
animals in their animal kingdom, and "Priests" was a poem of the
familiar sort written by rationalists when they attack priests and
clericalism.
"Forty-eight Hours in the Dark" was a horrible description of
the fantasies and illusions that run through a prisoner's mind as he
suffers from hunger, anxiously counts his pulse, notes the rush of
blood to his head, hears the coughing of the sick in neighboring
cells, and reviews the horrors of solitary confinement:
Da steh' ich wieder in dem finstern Loch
Und stosse an die unsichtbaren Wände,
Bald mit der Nase, bald mit Fuss und Hande!
Gott Lob! Nun kenn' ich diese Strafen doch!
"Night" pictured the loneliness of a cell when darkness descends
and the prisoner counts the hours till dawn. He hears the jailer on
his rounds, rattling his keys:
Denn lichter sprudelt die Gedankenquelle
In stiller Einsamkeit und finst'rer Nacht."Morning" described the first faint beams of light that hail the
day, and ended with the lines,
Schöner Morgen, mir ein schöner Traum!
Schöner Abend, mir ein susses Hoffen,as the prisoner dreamed of the day that would bring his release
from prison cells.
"Wounds and Balsam" was published with a footnote which
explained Weitling's sufferings in detail, his despair because his
correspondence with friends had been intercepted, and the dis
ciplining which he expected as a result of violating prison rules.