About JirÃ Orten

Jiří Orten (1919–1941) was one of the greatest writers of Czechoslovakia’s “war generation” and arguably one of the finest European poets of the twentieth century. On his twenty-second birthday, while crossing a street in Prague, he was struck by a German ambulance. A friend took him to the General Infirmary in Prague, but as a Jew, Orten could not be treated there and had to be moved to a different hospital. Two days later, he died.

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Snowflakes

Jirí Orten

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Shrouded, stitched in silky white,
they cry aloud all through the night
and find such weeping not enough,
the bird of guilt brings that sound here

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Snowflakes

Jirí Orten

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