Who Am I?

Bonhoeffer’s poem, Who Am I?, written in prison in June of 1944:
"Who Am I"

Am I then really that whichother men tell of?

Or am I only what I myselfknow of myself?
Restless and longing and sick,
like a bird in a cage,struggling for breath, as
though hands were compressing
my throat,

yearning for colours, for flowers,
for the voices of birds,thirsting
for words of kindness, for neighbourliness,
tossing in expectation of great
events,powerlessly trembling for friendsat
an infinite distance,weary and empty at praying,
at thinking, at making,faint, and ready to say
farewell to it all.Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once?A hypocrite before others,and
before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me stilllike a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me,these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, 0 God,I am Thine!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Tegel PrisonSummer 1944