By Powers of Good

Hymn Stanzas translated and edited from

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER WORKS IN ENGLISH

martyred April 1945 at Flossenberg Prison, Germany

Letter and Papers from Prison

Fortress Press, 2015

By faithful, quiet powers of good surrounded

so wondrously consoled and sheltered here --

I wish to live these days with you in spirit

and with you enter into a new year!

The old Year still would try our hearts to torment,

of evil times we still do bear the weight;

O Lord, do grant our souls, now

terror-stricken, salvation for which you

did us create!

And should you offer us the cup of

suffering, though heavy, brimming full and bitter brand,

we'll thankfully accept it, never flinching,

from your good heart and your beloved hand!

But should you wish now once again to give us

the joys of this world and its glorious sun,

then we'll recall anew what past times brought us

and then our life belongs to you alone!

The candles you have brought into

our darkness, let them today be burning

warm and bright,

and if it's possible, do reunite us!

We know your light is shining

through the night.

When now the quiet deepens all around us,

O, let our ears that fullest sound amaze

of this, your world, invisibly expanding

as all your children sing high hymns of praise!

By powers of good so wondrously protected,

we wait with confidence, befall what may.

God is with us at night and in the morning

and oh, most certainly on each new day!

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FORTRESS "Reader's Edition"

ISBN 978-1-5064-0274-1