With thanks to AC Benus* for his fantastic work and research, for finding this poet for us and for finding and translating the poem featured.
Peter Baum’s collection of "trench verses" was published posthumously. They have been made available in VERSENSPORN No. 15 for the first time in almost a hundred years.
Wir sitzen da mit wenig Haaren,
Als seien eben wir geboren,
Und Sind doch lange schon bei Jahren.
Gesichte immer Sich enthüllen,
Als wären wir noch junge Füllen
Mit Zukunftsrauschen in den Ohren.
AC Benus has kindly translated the poem for us:
We sit here with thinning hair in truth,
As if a tribe of newborns in years,
Though we're one already long of tooth.
But our faces unbosom our roles,
As if we were a herd of young foals
With futurity rushing our ears.
from “Schützengrabenverse” (Verlag der Sturm (Tr. Trench Verses) , Berlin, 1916)
Sources:
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2073822
https://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/content/pageview/1069606
