A final pledge of peace
May our honor be the measure of its keeping
Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Flowers of Auschwitz” by Anne Feeney (2001). If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article. Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics.
✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
(587 words)
Today’s song is a poem set to music. Anne Feeney writes about three times in history when humans committed atrocities against other human beings. The music is beautiful, and it makes the words to the song much more painful. The words call for a change. They express hope that we never again repeat these horrible acts.
Oh, the snow was softly falling on the little Polish town
And the winds of late December they were blowing
The clouds were all the color of the finest wedding gown
But it wasn’t from the clouds that it was snowing
If it isn’t clear, this verse is talking about Auschwitz and the other death camps operated by the Nazi regime during WWII.
And as we count the number of their names
May we come to see their ashes as the flowers of the flames
May our knowledge be the measure of our darkest memory
May our mercy be the measure of our knowing
In other words, we must learn about this horrifying history and let compassion toward others guide us in the future.
The second verse refers to Victor Jara. Victor was a poet and a singer in Chile. He wrote songs and played the guitar for the people. He supported a doctor who was running for president, Salvador Allende, who wanted to bring better education, health care, and higher living standards to the poor. Allende won the election, but there was a coup d’etat, and Victor was arrested with other people who supported Allende. The military knew who he was, and they broke the bones in his hands, beat him, and shot him. (Bolivar refers to Simon Bolivar, a man who led his military in the Venezuelan War of Independence from Spain.)
They have killed another poet, sang the skies to Bolivar
Now the heart of every hero will be aching
But the silence only deepened in the bones of his guitar
With the sound of every finger they were breaking
And the song goes on forever if it’s true
While tyrants rot like roses in the damp and bloody dew
’Til our words become the anthem of a never-ending love
And our music sets the measure of its making
The last verse refers to the Bosnian War (1992-1996). The Srebrenica massacre occurred on July 11-22, 1995. General Ratko Mladić took his soldiers to a town called Srebrenica. The town's Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) population, including men and boys, were taken to a nearby warehouse. The soldiers then separated the men and boys from the women and children. The men and boys were taken to different places where they were killed and buried in mass graves. It is estimated that about 7,000 people died, including many young children.
The lyrics describe an angel moving quietly through the streets, giving flowers to the children who are too scared and their mothers who are so tired that they cannot cry.
I saw the queen of heaven through the doorway of a dream
Down the streets of Sarajevo she was sweeping
With a flower for the children too terrified to scream
And the mothers all too weary to be weeping
And if the hands of innocence at prayer
Can rinse the smell of gun smoke from the flowers in her air
May she lead us to the promise to a final pledge of peace
May our honor be the measure of its keeping
The last two lines encourage us to keep our promise to do what we can to create a peaceful world.
Leaving a comment is a good way to practice your writing skills.
Vocabulary
regime 政権
mercy 慈悲
horrifying 恐ろしい
compassion 同情
living standards 生活水準
tyrant 暴君
rot 腐れる
damp 湿気
dew 露
anthem 賛歌
warehouse 倉庫
mass grave 集団墓地
sweeping スムーズに移動する
weary 疲れた
weep 涙
innocence 潔白,純情
rinse 濯ぐ
pledge 誓い
honor 名誉
Sources
Cleverly, F. (2021, June 24). What happened in Srebrenica. Remembering Srebrenica. https://srebrenica.org.uk/what-happened/history/happened-srebrenica . Accessed 20 June, 2025.
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2025c, June 25). Ratko Mladić. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ratko-Mladic . Accessed 20 June, 2025.
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https://folkworks.org/milestone/rip-anne-feeney/
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All photos found at Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
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All of the articles about the songs will remain free for students to use. (We are all students, are we not?) However, if you find these articles useful and are in a position to make a small (or large) donation, I would be deeply grateful.
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#TOEIC550 #英検Pre-1 #CEFR B2
Do you think we will ever see a 'final pledge of peace' Louise? I wish for it so... an end to all the wars and cruelty that cost such heartbreak and loss, wouldn't that be something!
That is indeed a song made more sad by the music...
I send love and peace to you this Friday morning. 💛x
It's so wonderful that you do this. Effective, no doubt!
Perhaps not for your students but I think all of us living in late-stage capitalism should listen and learn from the lyrics of Eat Your Young. Have you heard it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9o_XTzYoa8