Written when he was only twenty-five, before embarking on the masterpieces that would make him an integral figure in twentieth-century letters, Psalm 44 shows Ki at his most lyrical and unguarded, demonstrating that even in the place of dragons … covered with the shadow of death, there can still be poetry. Featuring characters based on actual inmates and warders including the abominable Dr. Mengele Psalm 44 is a baring of many of the themes, patterns, and preoccupations Ki would return to in future, albeit never with the same starkness or immediacy.