by Savitri Devi
Edited by R.G. Fowler
This is the sixteenth and final chapter of Savitri Devi’s previously unpublished book Forever and Ever. There are two versions of this chapter in the typescript. The first is the “prose” version transcribed below. Second is a verse version that Savitri circulated among her friends and that was published in And Time Rolls On. Aside from small changes of capitalization and punctuation, the two versions from the Forever and Ever typescript are virtually identical, differing primarily in the arrangement of lines. We will publish the verse version in our final installment. As Savitri recopied and recited the verse version over the years, more modifications crept in. Thus I have noted the word differences between the present version of “1953” and the one published in And Time Rolls On, but I have not noted changes of punctuation and capitalization.
In transcribing and editing these texts, I have translated the German epigraphs, corrected any spelling and grammatical errors, and updated the spelling. Although I “Americanized” Savitri’s spelling in earlier transcriptions, I abandoned this practice when I decided I would publish Forever and Ever as a book with Savitri’s original British spellings. I have not altered Savitri’s sometimes eccentric capitalization practices. Nor have I altered her punctuation, although I have pruned her sometimes long ellipses down to three dots each. All notes are mine.
To view a PDF of the original typescript, click the title of the poem below.
—R. G. Fowler
XV.
1953
______
“. . . die Menschen gehen nicht an verlorenen Kriegen zugrunde, sondern am Verlust jener Widerstandskraft, die nur dem reinen Blute zu eigen ist.”
“Ein Staat, der im Zeitalter der Rassen-vergiftung sich der Pflege seiner besten rassischen Elemente widmet, muß eines Tages zum Herrn der Erde werden.”
—Mein Kampf2
And time rolls on . . . and every empty day that slowly fades away, as uneventful as any other one, into the mist of unrecorded history, brings us, along our strenuous way, nearer the heart’s desire of the revengeful, nearer the doom of those whom we resist, nearer the unfailing end of this atrocious night, nearer the yet well-hidden goal for which we fight,—the one unchanging3 dream for which we live, while we never forget, never forgive.
And time rolls on . . . and every dreary hour that passes by into eternity, glaringly shows the soundness of our claim, and tells the world the inanity of Thy enemies’ victory, while bringing Thy dismembered Nation new strength and new prosperity, new hopes of unity, with the increasing certainty of our return to power, and both our persecutors further fears of unavoidable annihilation.
And thus we march invincibly towards our lofty Aim, along the Way of blood and tears. It matters not what price4 we gave, it matters not what price5 we shall yet give, to see all those who hated Thee descend into the grave after they groan under our whip for years and years,—while6 we never forget, never forgive.
And time rolls on . . . and every passing7 second brings us further away from the long nightmare of defeat; nearer the glory of our dawning Day; nearer the time we shall begin again; nearer the morn of Thy unending reign, when Thy adoring People will8 repeat the now forbidden words of faith and pride in frenzied spell-like cheers,9 and when, for countless scores of years, the nations of the West that have refused to side with Thee, and fight the common foe, and live, will lie in ruins at our feet,—while we never forget, never forgive.
And time rolls on . . . With us, they had not reckoned,10 when setting forth their vast utopian schemes. They thought Thee dead, and us also; they thought our faith had slackened; they thought,—the fools—they11 could rely upon our loyalties to values which we hate; they thought they could send us to die, without us ever asking why, while12 we had grown too weary to say “no.” They thought they had become the masters of our fate; but13 here we rise, and here we stand, and give the world to understand that we shall never fight but for our same old dreams:14 for honour and for might, and what we know is right; for the joy of asserting the privileges of our birth; for Thee, for Greater Germany, for Aryan rule upon this earth—the Gospel of perennial Truth in its new form, which we came to proclaim, and, which is more, to live, while we never forget, never forgive.
And time rolls on . . . Nothing can break our spirit, nor alter our allegiance to Thee and to the German Reich, home of the best, stronghold and hope of Aryan mankind in the West. Of all Thy enemies might15 say or do to gain our favour that they so require, nothing can shake our faith, nothing can ever mar our loyalty to the old oath; nothing can kill our will to rise again. Every new step the former “great Allies” take towards us we meet with a new grievance; no threat can force us to believe their lies; no bribery can keep our hearts from hating both.16
Happier as the storm draws nigh, we wait and watch events go by . . . We wait and watch the signs of war—the hopes of liberation; the coming chances of Thy Nation to seize the lead of Sunset Lands once more. And we are confident in our own strength and we are grateful to the immortal Gods who made us free, serene even in hell and loving only Thee, having nothing to lose and all to give—faithful when all become unfaithful, while we never forget, never forgive.
1 “. . . men perish not from lost wars, but from the loss of that power of resistance found only in pure blood” (Mein Kampf, 1939 edition, p. 324)—trans. R.G. Fowler.
2 “A state that, in an age of racial-poisoning, dedicates itself to fostering its best racial elements must one day become master of the earth” (Mein Kampf, 1939 edition, p. 782)—trans. R.G. Fowler.
3 Later versions: “undying.”
4 In later versions “what price” is replaced by “how much.”
5 In later versions “what price” is replaced by “how much.”
6 In later versions “while” is replaced by “for.”
7 In later versions “passing” is replaced by “fleeting.”
8 In later versions “shall” replaces “will.”
9 In later versions this reads, “when Thy adoring people shall repeat, in frenzied, spell-like cheers, the now forbidden words of faith and pride.”
10 In later versions “did not reckon.”
11 In later versions a “that” appears before “they.”
12 In later versions “when.”
13 In later versions “and” is replaced by “but.”
14 In later versions “dreams” appears as “dream.”
15 In later versions “might” is replaced by “can.”
16 In later versions “both” is emphasized.
