Grodek

"Grodek" is a poem about World War I written by Georg Trakl, an Austrian Expressionist poet.

He personally witnessed the carnage of the Battle of Gródek [de] (fought at Horodek, then in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria), in which the Austro-Hungarian army suffered a bloody defeat at the hands of the Russians.

One evening following the battle he ran outside and attempted to shoot himself to avoid the cries of the wounded and dying; he was prevented from doing so and was sent to a mental hospital.

Doch stille sammelt im Weidengrund rotes Gewölk, darin ein zürnender Gott wohnt das vergoßne Blut sich, mondne Kühle; alle Straßen münden in schwarze Verwesung.

Specifically, he uses the image of "broken mouths" (German: zerbrochenen Münder) to represent the muted state of the damned.