[A synopsis from Wikipedia, to give context: “Brand enters the valley in which he was born, and finds great famine and need. The local bailiff distributes bread for the hungry in strict rations, and Brand questions the need for it. Meanwhile, a mother comes from the other side of the fjord, telling of her husband who needs absolution, because he, in dire need, killed one of his children rather than seeing him starve; then he harmed himself. Nobody dares to venture the rough fjord, but Brand takes a boat to the cottage where these deeds took place.” The following are Brand’s reflections after leaving the cottage:]
So now it’s finished. Death’s quiet hand
has smoothed away his grin of dread
and wiped the terror from his mind.
It seems so peaceful to be dead.
He knew as much of his own crime
as his tongue fumbled at to name,
as his stained hands could bear to touch,
as his poor brain could grope to reach.
He knew the half of what he’d done,
mumbling ‘I killed the little one.’
What of the ones he didn’t kill
but murdered just the same? Two boys,
staring from the dark ingle-nook,
constrained to look, and look, and look,
with more than terror in their eyes,
not understanding what they saw.
Who can redeem their souls from Hell?
What purifying flame shall burn
to ash their memories’ carrion?
Condemned to burgeon in the glare
of that one awful, endless sight
like leaves in darkness, sickly-white,
growing more sickly as they grow,
they in their turn shall generate
offspring of their own despair,
scions of wretchedness and hate,
and all the streams of life shall run
from the one ever-spreading stain.
Where did it all begin, and why,
eternal culpability?
What answer blares from the abyss?
‘Remember who the fater was.’
When the Day of Judgement comes
every soul shall stand accused,
shall be condemned as it condemns,
shall curse, knowing itself accursed.
There’ll be no mercy for the plea
‘Forgive us our heredity’!
Abysmal riddle, making all
capacities incapable!
Not one soul in a thousand sees
the mountain of offenses rise
from the base origins of life,
the two bare, basic words to live.