This postcard is part of a set showing a Prussian cavalryman who has been wounded in the fighting, probably during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).
The poem at the top of the picture, entitled “Sunrise … Sunrise”, romanticizes the soldier’s encounter with death. It reads:
“Oh, how quickly, how quickly
Does beauty and stature fade away!
One moment you boast of looks so fine,
Cheeks white as milk with crimson hue,
Oh, but every rose will wilt in time.”