nazi
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Naked skeletons. Hollow eyes. Gnarled joints. All in line for “shower” time.
I was just following orders.
Branded like cattle. In line like sheep for slaughter. Already dead.
In the attic of rigid wood
I sit denied any motion,
We were forced here, as no one should
We’re waiting without any notion.
They were brought down
Down to the pits of the darkest spectrum
Beyond a trace of relief, a glimmer of hope
They were menaced, chided, and turned
Beaten, battered, and burned
It is here where the birds refuse to fly, and the animals, graze
For on this spot people have died
There was no one here to save
The tattered souls of the depraved
There’s a sound of broken glass,
A rush of fear and the sound of dogs.
Our silence is deep,
But I know it won’t last.
My mother said a bad man is in charge.
He wants to hurt us because we’re Jews.
I watch you as you burn
Tongues of yellow, orange and deepest red
Licking at your yarn head
Nipping, curling around your homespun cloth
Little dolly mine
I cannot bring myself to cry
As momma sobs out loud
The cattle car stopped, our ten day trip we hoped to be through
So much hatred from a Nazi, so much hatred toward a Jew
Our belongings were taken, to where we don’t know
The pile of suitcases beginning to grow
Standing in a row
See revulsion in their eyes
Together we stand
All wishing, hoping, praying
To be anywhere but here
