Reminiscence of Marie A.

"Reminiscence of Marie A." or "Memory of Marie A." (German: "Erinnerung an die Marie A.") is a 1920 poem by German poet and playwright Bertold Brecht (1889-1956) that was first published in his collection Die Hauspostille (1927). Brecht wrote the poem in his notebook on 21 February 1920 on a train to Berlin. The poem is a reminiscence of time spent with a former lover and a kiss beneath a plum tree remembered only because of the memory of a passing white cloud.

German poet Bertold Brecht (1889–1956)

The poem's first stanza was read voice-over in the Oscar-winning 2006 German film The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), by the character of Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler (played by Ulrich Mühe), lying back uncomfortably on his sofa:

An jenem Tag im blauen Mond September Still unter einem jungen Pflaumenbaum Da hielt ich sie, die stille bleiche Liebe In meinem Arm wie einen holden Traum. Und über uns im schönen Sommerhimmel War eine Wolke, die ich lange sah Sie war sehr weiß und ungeheuer oben Und als ich aufsah, war sie nimmer da.

One day in blue-moon September silent under a plum tree I held her, my silent pale love in my arms like a fair and lovely dream.. And above us in the summer sky was a cloud that caught my eye. It was white and so high up. And when I looked up, it was no longer there.