This postcard is part of a set showing a Prussian cavalryman wounded in battle, probably during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).
The poem at the top of the card, entitled “Sunrise … Sunrise”, romanticizes the soldier’s encounter with death. It reads:
“So what is, what is
This short time that we are given?
Only troubles, only worries
Follow us through the day,
Until that day is done.”