PoKeR FacE.
Just like a chick in the casino
Take your bank before I pay you out
I promise this, promise this
Check this hand cause I'm marvelous
Can't read my, can't read my
No she can't read my poker face
(She's got to love nobody)
WiNNing HAnD.
Saturday, January 17, 2009, 10:30 PM
For once, my eyes glazed after reading a novel. This is it, the true war inspired story in the words of a German U-boat
Kriegsmarine Oberleutnant Erich Bock
Like all war novels, it composes of a right mix of action, the blood, romance and ideals behind a war thriller. However, what's unlike the norm is that this novel focuses specifically on a
Kapitantleutnant's love and affection on his comrade-in-arms. What's especially heart-wrenching is actually the author's epilogue, the twist, on the reason behind him highlighting the publishing of this novel.
Here's an excerpt,
September 14, 1943
Dear Erich,
I have chosen to set pen to paper in English, as I fear you are fated to speak it for the rest of your days.
If you are reading this, it is because I have apparently abandoned you- marooned you- somewhere on the coasts of the United States....
.... I deeply apologize. In my professional and personal opinion, you are one of the finest young officers the Ubootwaffe has ever produced; in every way, your performance of your duty has been exemplary. When I report you killed in action...
.... Why? you must be asking. Nothing makes any sense. Why has my captain treated me in such a way? What have I done to deserve this?....
....During our last rendezvous with Captain Kessler abroad the U-395, east of Windward Passage, he asked me to come to his cabin. He had information concerning you, Erich, that disturbed him greatly, and that he felt he must pass on to me. In doing so, he put himself at considerable risk, for it was the information of the sort that can cause a man who repeats it- given the current state of affairs in Germany, to disappear. But I do not need to remind you how much Hans Kessler liked you. I say "liked" because sadly, I fear that Captain Kessler and the crew of U-395....
.... This is what Hans Kessler told me: last month, the Gestapo arrested your fathers and uncles for attempting to smuggle fifty-seven Jewish men, women and children out of Germany by concealing them abroad your family's three fishing vessels....
....The Gestapo decided to make an example of your entire family....
....A similar fate, Kessler warned me, awaits you upon your return from this patrol. Himmler and Goebbels themselves have a hand in it. They have convinced the Führer of the deterrent power of wiping out an entire German family sympathetic to the Jews, even if one of its members is a decorated U-boat officer. The frantic protests of every senior officer in the Kriegsmarine- including Dönitz himself- have fallen on deaf ears. The Führer has decided, you must be sacrifaced....
....You cannot go home, Erich. Not ever. There is nothing to go home to....
....Remember me as I will always remember you, Erich, and always consider me
Your captain, and your friend,
Kurt StuermerSuch was the power of this book, in particular, this letter, that for a moment my eyes glazed. A truly good read.
