Wild Geese (song)

Wildgänse rauschen durch die Nacht (Wild geese rush through the night) is a war poem by Walter Flex. It was published in 1917 in his poem book Im Felde zwischen Nacht und Tag (In the (battle) field between day and night). The poem was also included in his 1916 novel Der Wanderer zwischen beiden Welten (The Wanderer Between Two Worlds).

The lyrics achieved popularity through a musical adaptation written by Robert Götz. Götz's melody existed as early as 1916 but Wild Geese[1] was widely sung by members of the Wandervogel movement / Bündische Jugend society during the late 1920s. It is also sung in the Austrian and German army.

Creation

The date of creation of the lyrics are unknown. The inspiration for the poem is described in his memoirs The Wanderer Between Two Worlds:

"[…] I was a volunteer as a hundred nights earlier now lying on the forest clearing plowed by grenades and serving as listening post to stare into the flickering light of the stormy night, walked by the restless spotlights on German and French trenches. The roar of the oncoming night storm swelled up on me. Strange voices filled the quivering air. About helmet tip and barrel it sang and whistled, cutting, shrill and plaintive, and high over the hostile armies, which lurked opposite to each in the darkness went with razor-sharp cry a migratory grey geese flight northbound. […] The cordon of our Silesian Regiment stretched from Bois des Chevaliers to the Bois de Verin, and the army of migratory wild geese ranged ghostly on us all away. Without seeing my intertwined lines in the darkness I wrote on a scrap of paper a few verses: […]"[2]

The Wanderer Between Two Worlds achieved great popularity in Germany. After participating in the Lake Naroch Offensive Flex returned to Berlin to write a series of reports on the offensive, which was published posthumously in 1919 as Die russische Frühjahrsoffensive 1916 (The Russian Spring Offensive of 1916). He died on October 17, 1917 from wounds sustained during Operation Albion.[3]

The poem
Walter Flex[4] (direct translation) (poetic translation)
  1. Wildgänse rauschen durch die Nacht
    Mit schrillem Schrei nach Norden –
    Unstäte Fahrt! Habt acht, habt acht!
    Die Welt ist voller Morden.
  2. Fahrt durch die nachtdurchwogte Welt,
    Graureisige Geschwader!
    Fahlhelle zuckt, und Schlachtruf gellt,
    Weit wallt und wogt der Hader.
  3. Rausch' zu, fahr' zu, du graues Heer!
    Rauscht zu, fahrt zu nach Norden!
    Fahrt ihr nach Süden übers Meer –
    Was ist aus uns geworden!
  4. Wir sind wie ihr ein graues Heer
    Und fahr'n in Kaisers Namen,
    Und fahr'n wir ohne Wiederkehr,
    Rauscht uns im Herbst ein Amen!
  1. Wild geese are rushing through the night
    With shrilling cry northbound –
    Unsteady way! Attention, be wary!
    The world is full of murder.
  2. Travel through the world surged through by the night,
    Gray traveling [yeoman] squadrons!
    Wan light quivers, and battle cry yells,
    Far surges and heaves the quarrel.
  3. Rush on, travel on, you gray-colored host!
    Rush on, travel on to the north!
    When you travel southwards over the sea –
    What will have become of us!
  4. We are like you a gray-colored host
    And travel in the name of the emperor,
    And if we travel without return,
    Rush an amen for us in autumn!
  1. Wild geese are rushing through the night
    With shrilling cry northbound their heading –
    Attention, take care! Unsteady flight!
    The world is full of murdering.
  2. Fly through the world engulfed by night,
    Gray yeomen-soldier squadron!
    Battle cry yelling, wan quivering light,
    Far heaves the quarrels cauldron.
  3. Gray-colored host, rush on, fly – flee!
    Rush on, fly on to the north!
    When you fly south across the sea –
    What will our fate have brought forth!
  4. We are like you a host in gray
    We fly on the emperors call,
    If sans return we fly away,
    Rush an amen for us in fall!
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References
  1. "Sound file". Ingeb.org. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
  2. Flex, Walter. Der Wanderer zwischen beiden Welten Ein Kriegserlebnis [The Wanderer between the Two Worlds: An Experience of War] (in German) (368. bis 380. Tausend (print run of copies 368,000 to 380,000) ed.). München: C.H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. pp. 1–2.
  3. Detering, Nicolas (2014-10-08). "Flex, Walter". International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  4. Flex, op. cit.
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