A year ago I penned this poem and as part of my commemoration today of Bonhoeffer's I share it again. 

April 9, 2020

On the 75th Anniversary of the Death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As I lay in bed early today

Before dawn I could hear the birds

Start their singing.

“This is the end. But for me, the beginning.”

It was dawn that he died. 

He knew so well the earthsong

And there was never more than that.

He knew so well the God of all creation and there was never

Less than that.

This milestone of his death’s observation falls on commandment Thursday where the feast of

 

inclusion and liberation is spread and the towel and water applied to transform a life, our life,

 

into one of freedom from self and freedom for others.

Bonhoeffer finally ended up calling Jesus “a man for others.”

After April 9, 1945’s morning hanging there was no grave marker constructed but it simply

Should say that.

And after his death on that day the birds went on singing.

I hear them today. I hear them.

They were the song of world and God that cannot be silenced no matter death.

Thank you, O God, for this life that died that April day and that lives forever in you.

Thank you, O God, for this day’s dawn and your song that sings in the trees outside my window

And in my heart.