Auschwitz
I watch the sky this hopeless night
The deepest black I’ve ever seen
The stars like pinpoints glitter bright
But the wafting smoke is all I see
The smoke, it rises from the camp
From bright flames fueled by corpses dead
The smoke, it rises to the lamp
Of the sky, the moon which haunts the dreadful shed
Where bodies burn, defiled and mauled
Shot and gassed and starved and beat
Murder! Murder! I cry, ripping my threadbare shawl
But they cannot hear as I rise to my feet
The smoke still rises from the camp
That hellhole filled with Mother’s screams
And my sister’s bony, scared face damp
My father praying it was all a dream
But praying, how it seems to fail
My God, oh God, where have you gone?
Abandoned voices rise in a wail
Pain and death now rise as one
Arise, ye suffering, hopeless Jews
Defy in your death that heartless beast
Who lives to destroy your right to choose
To live or die, you stand the least
And looking down, I see a shivering child
Skin and bones and threadbare cloth
And eyes with a soul, dejected and mild
His family gone, his heart now lost
I want to whisper to this child
Don’t worry, dear. All will be fine.
Time heals these wounds, just wait awhile.
But mama taught me not to lie.